Former football star moves to Wichita, creates charity sports to help local children

When Jamarae Finnie was finished playing football, he knew he wanted to make a difference in whatever community he ended up in.

After an NAIA All-America career as a disruptive defensive tackle at Langston University in Oklahoma, which led to an NFL tryout, a connection from his hometown of Tacoma, Washington, brought Finnie to Wichita on a whim.

Since moving to Wichita, the 29-year-old has geared his entire career toward helping children. He has created a nonprofit, Major Figures Inc., and organized several basketball tournaments with proceeds being donated to help local children.

Finnie’s latest creation — a “Back-to-School” 3-on-3 basketball tournament — is scheduled for 12-5 p.m. on Saturday, August 24, at Wichita Sports Forum. Teams can sign up on Event Brite for a $100 registration fee, while winners will receive a customized trophy, cash prize and t-shirt.

As always, there will be a focus on kids. Old Town Barber College will be providing free haircuts, while Finnie will have backpacks filled with hygiene products and school supplies to hand out to children. He also partnered with the Wichita Sports Forum to lower their all-day pass for the trampoline park to $5.

“I feel like when I’m giving back, I’m doing my part and it’s part of my purpose. It makes me feel full, in a sense.” Finnie said. “I came from a negative background, a single-parent household, and there’s a lot of things that come with that, a bunch of preconceived notions. I could have gone a different route with gangs, but I was positively impacted by the right people and involved in the right programs that were within my community.”

One of those role models from Tacoma was his former high school football coach, Jon Kitna, best known as a starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.

Another positive influence was Ronn McMahon, a Hall-of-Fame basketball player for Eastern Washington, who moved to Wichita in 2016 to become the president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Wichita.

It was McMahon who encouraged Finnie to move to Wichita, offering him a job to get started at the YMCA.

“I’ve seen those guys give back to the community and how they went out of their way to do things positively for kids in need,” Finnie said. “That was just kind of embedded in me and I decided I wanted to go the same route. It just makes me happy, man.”

Since arriving in Wichita, Finnie has volunteered as an assistant football coach for Wichita Public Schools and also offered personal training.

He has since moved on from the YMCA and now works for the Department of Corrections, where he heads up the POWER (Providing Opportunities While Ending Recidivism) program to youth ages 10-17 who are currently considered low risk.

Hosting competitive basketball tournaments has allowed him to mix his two passions — sports and charity.

“If I wasn’t playing basketball or working out at night, what would I be doing?” Finnie said. “I want to show kids that there is a different way. The basketball gives us a chance to still have a competitive tournament, but also show that there is a different way to impact the community.”