As much as he is known for his tremendous ability on the field, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle does tremendous work for the community-at-large off the field. To that end, Kittle has been named the NFL and USAA’s 2024 recipient of the Salute to Service Award presented by USAA.
Kittle will be acknowledged for the award, which recognizes exceptional efforts made by members of the NFL family to honor and support the military community, at Thursday night’s NFL Honors in New Orleans.
USAA will donate $25,000 in Kittle’s honor to the official aid societies that represent each of the military branches, while the NFL Foundation will match the contribution and donate to military charity of Kittle’s choice.
“I am incredibly thankful and honored to be this year’s Salute to Service Award recipient,” Kittle said. “This is my fourth time being nominated by the 49ers, which is an absolute honor because it’s important to me to show gratitude and support to the military. My appreciation for the military stems from watching my Uncle Pat serve multiple tours with the National Guard and seeing firsthand how much it impacted him and his family while he was overseas.”
Kittle plays a major role in the 49ers’ programming around Salute to Service, hosting military and frontline heroes at every game. Inspired by stories heard on their Hidden Pearls Podcast, the Kittle family created an app that offers free mental health resources to veterans. While he has made donations of over $250,000 to military nonprofits, Kittle has also highlighted organizations through the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats initiative.
“Without my family and their unwavering support, I would not be able to create these genuine and authentic relationships with the real heroes and the ones who should be receiving this award, the active-duty members, Veterans, TAPS and families that have lost loved ones in the line of fire. The support you see for the military around the league is so important and the fact that guys on every team do it, not just the nominees, is awesome. We are allowed to live the lives we live here because of the sacrifices they make, so we’re just trying to honor them, show our support, and share as much love as we can.”