ROUND ROCK, Texas — A former high school football player who became paralyzed after a head-to-head collision during a game is receiving a life-changing gift from Nolan Ryan and the Round Rock Express.
Jasiel Favors, 22, became a quadriplegic at age 16 after the collision in a Stony Point High School football game in 2015. Not long after his accident, the Stony Point and Round Rock communities rallied to raise funds for a wheelchair-accessible van that allowed Jay’s mother to transport him with ease.
That van, however, was totaled in an automobile accident in 2020.
With the help of a family friend, Denise Ray, Express President Chris Almendarez and the Nolan Ryan Foundation, funds were raised to purchase Favors and his family a new, customized wheelchair-accessible van by MobilityWorks. The van was purchased, in part, with funds from the Nolan Ryan Foundation's 50/50 raffle purchases in 2021. During each Express game, fans can purchase 50/50 Raffle tickets with half of the proceeds going to one lucky fan and the other half going to the Nolan Ryan Foundation, according to team officials.
PHOTOS: Nolan Ryan Foundation, Round Rock Express donate wheelchair-accessible van to paralyzed Texan
At the end of each season, the Nolan Ryan Foundation makes donations to a variety of local nonprofit organizations in Central Texas through their recently-founded community grant program.
With the van purchased, new funds raised through Ray's crowdsourcing campaign will go toward assisting the Favors family with their continuing medical needs, Express officials confirmed.
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