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Waukesha West alum NIL for a cause
With the college football season kicking off, plenty of young men are going to be in the spotlight. Tim Van Vooren goes Beyond the Game with one player who is utilizing his platform to support a worthy cause.
OSHKOSH, Wis. - In his years at Waukesha West High School, Trae Tetzlaff made a lot of big plays for the Wolverines, and he remains a big fan of the city.
"Honestly, I am so blessed to be able to call that place my home," said Tetzlaff. "To go back there when I want to and have people there that will bring me in."
Tetzlaff is at UW-Oshkosh now, and he's very enthusiastic about the Titans' prospects this fall.
"We should be really good. I'm really excited," Tetzlaff said. "Our conference is so tough year in and year out, so it will be competitive, but we should be pretty good."
Beyond lining up for his junior season, Tetzlaff is doing something else that's pretty good.
He is selling T-shirts that benefit Bethany Christian Serivces in Waukesha.
"I like to think the achievements that I've had so far and that I hope to continue to have have kind of put me in a miniature spotlight, so to say," said Tetzlaff. "Better now while people are kind of looking at what I'm doing, and friends and family are looking at what I'm doing, than maybe a little bit in the future."
Tetzlaff was born in El Paso, Texas and adopted at birth through an agency similar to Bethany Christian.
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He and his older brother, Tyson, grew up in Waukesha with their mom and dad. Their grandmother had seven children and 47 foster kids.
He's living his family's beliefs.
"Just giving back and seeing when I was little, and just seeing people give back and help each other and give each other a better quality of life. It's truly all I know," Tetzlaff said. "Honestly, I'm just up next. I'm lucky enough to have a platform. I am not playing in front of 80,000 people or in a big stadium or whatever, but I have an amazing supporting cast of friends and family and even just people in Oshkosh and Waukesha."
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Tetzlaff has every reason to be proud of this endeavor, which has a groundswell of support on social media, and he feels pretty good about the look of the shirts themselves, too.
Let's face it, nobody wants to wear something unappealing, no matter the cause.
"Now that it's grown so far, I've taken like, not everyone wants a picture of me on their shirt, so I'm actually trying to get one just for the community," said Tetzlaff. "It's definitely reached people that I never thought it would reach, so you're right. Social media, it's been great. Got a lot of views and a lot of clicks, so it's been awesome."
This whole endeavor is growing exponentially, but for now, the best way to get a shirt or donate to Bethany Christian is to go to Tetzlaff's Instagram page.