Detroit athlete donating high school grad money to sports academy that helped shape his life

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A Detroit high school graduate is paying it forward by donating the money he gets from his open house graduation celebration to Sound Mind Sound Body, a sports academy that he says helped shape his life.

Dorian Mausi is getting a full ride to play football at Duke University after graduating from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School. He expressed his gratitude to the president of the foundation Tuesday and informed them of the donation he wanted to make. 

"We try to get our guys who make it to the NFL to come back and give back. But this kid hasn't even left Detroit and he's already giving back," Curtis Blackwell said. "We are the equivalent of what we put in and where we come from. Dorian is like the ideal student that we want to work within our program."

As much as the football program appreciates Dorian and his soon-to-be delivered gift, Dorian can't say enough about what it's meant in his life. He's been with the program since the seventh grade.

"It's so much more than football. It taught us at a young age just that I'm more than an athlete," he said. "Football is a really physical game and anything can happen. The average football career lasts around three years and anything can happen within that time so you need to have a backup plan. You need to set yourself up for life after football."

Dorian's dad couldn't be prouder.

"The older ones show the younger ones what to do, how to do it and instill in them that you will make mistakes and stumble and just keep going and put your best foot forward and show some of the people behind you some real wisdom," said Dorian Mausi Sr. "We always knew from the beginning he could not play ball without good grades. It was student-athlete, not athlete-student."

One of the major goals of this foundation is making sure there are more football student athletes graduating from high school and getting scholarships to college.