The second annual Troy Brown Fantasy Football Camp will begin Friday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. The fantasy camp game will be played Saturday.
"The goal of the camp is to raise funds to help out the Marshall University Childcare Academy," said former Marshall football player and current New England Patriots wide receiver Troy Brown.
The camp will include two nights lodging for participants.
Friday evening will conclude with a reception and Saturday morning will open with practice.
The game will take place Saturday afternoon with an evening banquet and awards ceremony to conclude the experience.
"We want them to get some kind of experience of what it is like to go through an NFL combine," Brown said. "They'll run the 40 (yard dash), do vertical jumps and that type of stuff, so they will get some idea of what it is like to go through training camp even though it is on a much smaller scale than what we would do in the NFL."
Participants involved in the camp must be at least 23 years of age and pay a $1,000 entry fee.
All of the proceeds from the event go to benefit the Marshall University Childcare Development Academy where Brown's two sons went while he was away from Huntington.
"I'm very grateful to Troy; he's just such a wonderful asset to our community as a whole and to the children," said Marshall University Director of the Child Development Academy Susan Miller. "When Troy and I have sat down to talk about some of his visions, we also talked about doing some early education centers in his hometown of South Carolina."
Miller said Brown is very devoted to children and Brown's parenting skills show how he cares about education and youth in the community.
"I got to meet Troy Brown not as a celebrity, not as a football player, but as a dad," Miller said. "His boys went to the academy before they started public school and even though Troy was out of town a lot during the season, when he was here he was the one that picked the boys up."
Miller said Brown not only tended to his boys as much as possible, but he communicated with them as well.
"When Troy talks to his boys he truly listens to what they have to say," Miller said. "We all have busy lives, but when Troy was with his boys I felt he was truly engaged with what they had to say. He listened to them, he looked them in the eye when he spoke to them, he was truly devoted to them."
Miller's husband, Marc, was involved in the camp last year and said it was a wonderful experienced for him.
"I can talk about my husband who limped down the 40-yard dash," Miller said. "It was the time of his life. I heard more people talking about it being the time of their life when it was over because they got to do some things they were hoping to do or they had done in their youth, and they got to relive it."
The camp counselors also include former Marshall football stars Chad Pennington and Mike Bartrum.
Sources are reporting Brown could possibly join Pennington next season as a member of the New York Jets, but Brown said right now he is just relaxing and enjoying his time off.
Saturday's fantasy camp game is open to the public.
Any donations made to the camp, which last year raised $16,000, will be given to further the Marshall University Academy of Childcare Center.
Andrew Damron can be contacted at damron47@marshall.edu.
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