TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons started his college career at Notre Dame. That's where he met Fighting Irish superfan Timothy Donovan. Donovan has a rare medical condition, VACTERL, that requires constant care. The two sparked a friendship, and Gibbons decided he was going to do everything he could to help the Donovan family.
"I started a GoFundMe for him," Gibbons said via video chat. "In about 24 hours I raised about $30,000, and that inspired me to do more."
When the NCAA started allowing athletes to make money off of their name, image, and likeness, Gibbons decided to use his platform to start a non-profit called "Big Man, Big Heart." What started as one GoFundMe exploded into a vehicle used to help those in need.
"Empowering athletes to use their name, image, and likeness for good. Giving them access to a charitable tool belt," Gibbons explained. "Telling the stories of about 15 people so far. Raising a significant amount of money. So far, through “Big Man, Big Heart,” we’ve raised over half a million dollars for people in need and had over 50 million interactions on social media and other platforms. Trying to tell those peoples’ stories and give them their day in the sun."
Gibbons, a Clearwater Central Catholic graduate, said football opens doors for many student-athletes. It's just a matter of choosing which doors those student-athletes want to walk through.
"Being able to use my social media presence to tell these peoples’ stories, and being able to raise as much money as I possibly could, for people in need, and that process of telling their stories," Gibbons said. "Starting a non-profit. Helping people. Trying to inspire the masses through telling individual stories. And shining light in the darkest corners of the earth."
On the field, Gibbons and his Florida St. teammates put together a 9-3 season after last year's 5-7 campaign. But Dillan said the improvement of the program isn't solely based on results in the win-loss column.
"That 1% incremental growth every day. Continuing the climb. Doesn’t matter if we win or lose football games. Florida State’s going to be the same," Gibbons explained. "I’m very proud of the individuals I’ve played with this season. The group of guys on offense and our defense has supported us tremendously. It’s been incredible to see that growth made over the past two seasons."
The Seminoles face Oklahoma (6-6) in the Cheez-It Bowl on December 29th in Orlando.
"I’ll go O.G. Cheez-Its. I’ve been a fan since probably, birth," Gibbons joked while explaining his love for the original flavor. "Those are a great snack. I look forward to being able to dump some of those on [Head Coach Mike Norvell], and I hope we have enough to dump on [Offensive Coordinator Alex Atkins] because of how much effort he’s put into developing our offense and how great of an offensive coordinator he’s been over the past season."
Dillan received the 2022 Jim Tatum Award given to the top senior student-athlete in the ACC. He also received the Danny Wuerffel Award for community service, along with being named captain of the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team for his non-profit work.
For more information about "Big Man, Big Heart" visit Gibbons' Twitter accounts: @GibbonsDillan and @BigManBigHeart_ .
