Edison alum, NFL safety Robert Golden hosting annual youth camp

Former Edison High star Robert Golden is back in town for his third annual “Building a New Generation Believe And Achieve” football camp.

The camp is Saturday at Bulldog Stadium and will feature a host of former Fresno State and current NFL players, including ex-Bulldogs star receivers Isaiah Burse and Josh Harper.

It begins at 9 a.m. and is free for fourth- through eighth-graders., though capacity is set for 500. Walk-ups are welcome until that number is reached, Keeping Youth Journeying Onward executive director Kevin Jordan said.

“Get there at 7-7:30. First come, first served,” Jordan advised. “Get there early. If you come at 8:30, don’t even bother.”

Judging by the annual turnout, the camp is extremely popular and Golden — entering his fourth season with the Pittsburgh Steelers — enjoys giving back to youths.

“One thing what I wanted to do when I was coming out of high school is if I make it to the NFL I wanted to come back to this community and put on a free clinic,” he said. “Put this camp on for all the kids from the central Valley and bring out players and peers that played in the NFL, and the ones went off to college.

“(It’s about) coming back and showing enthusiasm and little words of encouragement to the kids to have a good time. I was just so happy to be able to come back and bring my fellow peers to the Fresno community and for the kids to have a great time.”

Golden said it was a no-brainer to make the camp free. Most others do charge, often too much for lower-income families to afford.

“A lot of kids go to camps they have to pay for to get in,” he said. “Some kids are not able to attend those camps because they don’t have the certain amount of funds to get in the camp. What I wanted to do is give a free camp so kids don’t have to worry about having money to enter my camp.”

And he went a step further.

“I know the past two years we’ve had problems with kids not having transportation to get to the camp,” Golden said. “Kevin and I got together and rented out school buses to pick up kids from certain areas and transport them to Bulldog Stadium. One motto we have is ‘no excuses,’ so they have a way to attend the camp.”

Jordan said the players helping Golden also enjoy the goodwill they get in return.

“A lot of players probably want to give back but don’t know how,” Jordan said. “Build that bridge and help them out and have fun. Even if players are hanging out they're helping out.”

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Edison alum, NFL safety Robert Golden hosting annual youth camp."