Cam Jordan Donates $25K to Fund Benefiting New Year's Eve Victims

The former Cal star has played his entire 14-year NFL career with the New Orleans Saints

Cam Jordan / New Orleans Saints

Former Cal star Cam Jordan, who has played his entire 14-year NFL career with the New Orleans Saints, donated $25,000 to the city’s New Year’s Day Tragedy Fund after the driver of a pickup truck intentionally crashed into a crowd on Bourbon Street, leaving 14 dead and dozens injured.

“I can’t even imagine what it’s like to lose a family member to natural causes, let alone to . . . . I’m going to call it a terrorist attack,” the popular defensive end told reporters on Thursday. “What should have been a joyous time, celebrating New Year’s, ended up being a nightmare. It’s a tragedy to think about how many people are going to be affected by this.”

The Greater New Orleans Foundation, a century-old philanthropic group, organized the fund at the request of mayor LaToya Cantrell to help families of the victims.

Jordan suggested that New Orleans, which has dealt with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and other natural disasters, is perhaps the nation’s most resilient city. 

“You know this city knows how to bounce back,” he said. “Somehow, some way, it will come back from this as well.”

Twitter

Jordan encouraged others in a post on Twitter to contribute to the fund.

Jordan, 35, is preparing to play the final game of his 14th season with the Saints on Sunday at Tampa Bay. It’s been a rough season for New Orleans, which started 0-2 before a series of injuries contributed to the team going 3-11 since.

Jordan said he has enjoyed this team and will keep good memories of the season going forward, despite its collapse. “This could have been a team that could have been,” he said. “But we’ll never know.”

As for his future, Jordan has said his plan is to play a 15th NFL season.

“If you want to shut that door for me, you’re going to have to shut it for me because I’m not going to do it to myself,” he said recently, according to New Orleans Saints on SI. “As much as I bleed, I think I only bleed black and gold, but if you force me to go bleed somewhere else, a soldier fights wherever, whenever, however.”

An eight-time Pro Bowl selection and a first-team All-Pro pick in 2017, Jordan has started all 16 games this fall and has 33 tackles with four sacks.

He has started 224 of 225 career games, including every game the past 13 seasons, and has 121.5 career sacks, which ranks 22nd all-time and second to Von Miller among active players. His 224 career starts are fourth-most among active players.

Jordan played four seasons through 2010 at Cal, totaling 175 tackles, 35 tackles for loss and 17.5 sacks in 50 games. He was the 24th pick by the Saints in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft.