Miami Dolphins Football Star Scores Big in Financial Literacy

For its third straight season, Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Brian Hartline is teaming up with BankUnited to promote financial education to young people through the “4 Downs for Finance” program.

The program has been popular among the 13 to 18 year-old students who are eligible to participate given the many awards that are provided to winning youth. All students who register to receive important money tips and who submit an essay describing why they think saving money is important have the chance to win a football autographed by Hartline, as well as to have their name announced live on the radio during the broadcast of a Miami Dolphins football game. In addition, one winning student will win a $1,000 cash prize and have the opportunity to meet with Hartline.

The program has reached hundreds of South Florida students during its first two years in existence, with money tips that are bolstering the financial education and financial capability of Florida’s young people.

Representatives from BankUnited and from the larger community continue to assert that Hartline is a great role model for students given his longtime entrepreneurial spirit and his own focus on financial education in his personal life. Hartline owns and operates convenience stores in Ohio and is a “numbers man” in all aspects of his life.

The use of NFL players as role models for students in the area of financial education is nothing new. The NFL has a longstanding partnership with VISA that develops and launches “Financial Football” in schools throughout the nation, which empowers young people to make more informed financial decisions as they move into adulthood. Given that kids often want emulate professional athletes both on and off the field, many contend that these programs are among the best positioned to boost the financial capability of young people in the years ahead.