Vince Wilfork nose charity work is all in good fun

MILFORD - Around here, Vince Wilfork [stats]’s draft day fund-raiser has turned into a spring ritual. It’s an opening-round rite of passage for many Patriots [team stats] fans, an event that’s synonymous with the kickoff of the NFL draft.

It’s also a guaranteed good time - no matter what the Pats do with their first-round pick.

Every year, Wilfork throws a draft party, this time at Pinz Entertainment.

And two things are pretty much a given when all is said and done.

First, a ton of money is raised. Second, the mammoth nose tackle typically predicts the wrong guy as the Patriots’ pick.

While the latter has become a running joke, there’s a greater sense of pride with respect to the former, as Wilfork has managed to donate a ton of cash for diabetes research. In each of the last two years alone, he’s raised more than $350,000, with those important dollars headed to the Joslin Diabetes Center and the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami.

Wilfork’s father, David, died from complications of the disease in June 2002. Since then, he’s vowed to do whatever he can to help find a cure.
“Every year is getting bigger and bigger. Every year is getting greater and greater. We’re raising more and more money,” Wilfork said last night as he hosted his seventh annual party.

“More fans are starting to come out. That’s what I’m concerned about, fans coming out and having a good time, families coming out and having a good time, and raising some awareness to diabetes, which is close to me. As long as we do that, I’m happy.”

Wilfork, who along with his wife, Bianca, matched all funds raised up to $50,000, wasn’t sure how the new wrinkle of having a Thursday, prime-time party was going to play out. Typically, it’s been a weekend deal, and much easier to attract people on a nonwork night.

Judging by the scene at Pinz last night, the time change was not a negative influence. The place was packed between the bowling alley, and the adjoining Blue Dog Sports Bar and Grill, where Vince and Bianca signed autographs for a huge line of people before the draft got under way.

Wilfork would have been grateful if only a handful of fans showed up. And, given what his situation was like with the team a few months ago, he was thankful to be having the party at all.

Had he not agreed to a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the Patriots, and settled the franchise tag situation, who knows what the party would have become.

“Whether I was here, or wasn’t here, the draft party was going to continue,” Wilfork said. “You know, that was something my wife and I actually sat down and talked about, whether I was under contract, or not under contract. This party would have still happened. Would it have been something different? I don’t know. We can only sit back and imagine. But with it getting done, and me staying put, it just eased up a bunch of stuff.”

Click here to order Vince WIlfork's proCane Rookie Card.



(bostonherald.com)