Jalyx Hunt's bow-and-arrow celebration against Patrick Mahomes turned into a $5,690 fine

Jalyx Hunt believes in the power of manifestation. The night before the Super Bowl, the rookie outside linebacker envisioned himself getting to quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Jalyx Hunt is used to having his paychecks go to good causes. After all, the new Eagles linebacker does donate a portion of his earnings to charities focused on children and families in his hometown of Hagerstown, Md. But when fans began a movement to pay a $5,690 fine that Hunt received for a "violent gesture," the rookie felt there was a better use for their money.

Hunt, 24, shared a fundraiser on Thursday afternoon on X, formerly Twitter, for Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, a high school in the city's Mount Airy neighborhood. The fundraiser was organized by Barbers Who Care, a nonprofit organization of barbers based in the Philadelphia area who support underserved and marginalized communities. The goal of the fundraiser was to raise $20,000 to send 40 Boys’ Latin students on a trip to visit several colleges in North Carolina and Virginia, including Winston-Salem State, North Carolina A&T, Hampton, Norfolk State, and Virginia Commonwealth.

The post quickly gained attention, especially after It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor Rob McElhenney responded with screenshots of his $5,690 donation. In response, several fans began donating to the fundraiser, which had already raised around $7,000. By the time the fundraiser ended on Feb. 16, it had surpassed its goal and raised a total of $25,350.

"They stood on business," Hunt said of Eagles fans.

The fundraiser was created by Kenny Duncan, founder of Barbers Who Care, who also serves as a volunteer youth basketball coach in the Mount Airy area. He grew up three blocks away from Boys’ Latin and has been cutting hair in the city for 18 years.

After buying new gym equipment for the Boys’ Latin basketball team, Duncan was loading it into his truck in the rain when he received a call from an unknown number. He let the call go to voicemail. Later, he checked his phone and saw a text message from Hunt, who told him about the social media movement to support the fundraiser.

"I was like, 'Wow,'" Duncan said. "Contributions were coming in from all over the place. People were donating $40.22 in honor of the Super Bowl LIV final score. Some people were donating $56.90 in reference to the fine."

Hunt's involvement in the fundraiser began when his hair stylist, Crystal Russell, shared a post on Instagram about the fundraiser. The post, which was set to the song "Last Night" by the Country Charlies, showed a montage of photos and videos from the fundraiser and included a link in the bio to donate.

The cause resonated with Hunt, whose mother, Jaaqua, is a teacher and whose father, James, is a first-generation college graduate. In his youth, Hunt used to attend a summer program at Johns Hopkins University and later played college football at Cornell and Houston Christian. Roughly a decade ago, when he was younger, he and his cousin went on trips to visit colleges, experiences that he said he's fond of recalling.

"I could envision myself in the same seats that they're sitting in," Hunt said. "Young Black men trying to better themselves in life. From the same background, a lot of my family, a lot of my friends, they all come from the same socioeconomic background and trying to do things that they're trying to do. I just see myself. I saw my cousin. I saw my brothers and everybody. So it was just something I had to look out for."

After learning about the fundraiser, Hunt decided to help raise awareness for it by sharing a post on X. In the post, which was published on Thursday afternoon, Hunt encouraged his followers to contribute to the cause in lieu of the fine.

"I'd prefer y'all donate to this cause instead of paying my fine," Hunt wrote in the post, which has since been liked more than 1 million times and shared over 300,000 times.

The post quickly gained attention, especially after It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia actor Rob McElhenney responded with screenshots of his $5,690 donation. In response, several fans began donating to the fundraiser, which had already raised around $7,000. By the time the fundraiser ended on Friday, it had surpassed its goal and raised a total of $25,350.

"I never thought in a million years that we would reach the goal, let alone surpass it," said Robert Parker, the high school principal of Boys' Latin.

The fundraiser was created by Kenny Duncan, founder of the nonprofit organization Barbers Who Care, who also serves as a volunteer youth basketball coach in the Mount Airy area. He grew up three blocks away from Boys' Latin and has been cutting hair in the city for 18 years.

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