BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lorenzo Alexander is a man of his word. When the Bills linebacker promised to take a group of kids from Buffalo’s South Park High School back-to-school shopping and buy them all new pairs of sneakers, he did it. And when he offered to take the entire South Park football team to see “Black Panther” when the Oscar-nominated movie first came out, he not only bought the tickets, he sat with team.



When you talk to the people whose lives Alexander has touched, you understand that the 12-year NFL veteran’s philanthropy isn’t like that of most athletes. It’s not for show.



“I never thought I’d ever have time to chill with an NFL player,” says 18-year-old South Park student Mykel Wingham, with his eye wide. “He took us to the movies, took us to a bowling event with some of the other Bills players. He also took some of us to a training camp at New Era Field. He worked with us like it was a regular...