Boys Town Boosters 2004 Banquet Speaker Will Shields

There are two images of Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Will Shields.

One projects a nine-time All-Pro, who has played in 160 straight games over the past 10 seasons - the fifth longest streak in team history and third longest active streak in the NFL. 

The other is the 6-3, 315-pound “gentle giant” inspiring those less fortunate. Through his “Will to Succeed” Foundation (founded in 1993), Shields, the 2003 Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner, has helped inspire, guide, and improve the lives of more than 90,000 abused, battered and neglected woman and children.

The Foundation currently sponsors more than a dozen programs and initiatives. Shields is a "hands-on" participant and has personally contributed more than $1 million to the Foundation and other charitable causes.

“If there’s one kid who we can impact, then our efforts are worthwhile,” Shields said.  “If one child makes better choices and his or her life turns out better, then we have succeeded.”

Shields, the Pro Football Weekly Humanitarian of the Year in 1999, has donated his time and efforts to countless charitable organizations.  His foundation provides day care for some of Kansas City’s poorest families through Operation Breakthrough.  And while number 68 may be more widely known for a ferocious block on a linebacker to spring running back Priest Holmes, Shields also spends long hours helping out the community.  He has donated countless numbers of books to the Argentine Middle School for their library; provided a computer lab for the youth at the Children’s Place, and helped support troubled boys through the Good Samaritan Boys Ranch.

And that’s just the beginning.

He is on the board of Reach Out and Read Kansas City.  He started “Team Esteem,” which inspires kids to write. He sponsors the “Day of Beauty,” where battered women are taken to day spas around the city and treated like royalty; and he funds numerous scholarships.

Shields joined the Kansas City Chiefs as a third round draft pick in 1993. Coming from a run-oriented offense at the University of Nebraska where he won the Outland Trophy, many experts doubted he could succeed in the pass-happy NFL. But he proved his critics wrong and developed into one of the elite lineman in the league. But, Shields continually shows that he is more than a football player.Shields currently resides in Overland Park, Kansas, with his wife, Senia, and their three children: daughter, Sanayika, and two sons, Shavon and Solomon.