Huron alum Nate Faust runs for charity with NFL legends

Most sports fans would be pinching themselves if an opportunity to compete with NFL legends ever came their way. While Nate Faust isn't really a big fan, he definitely enjoyed his chance to mingle with a group of ex-players that participated in the "Run Rich Run" event that aired last weekend on the NFL Network and benefited St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "Despite working as a part-time sports reporter at the Sandusky Register (while in high school), I'm not the biggest sports fan," the 1998 Huron graduate said with a chuckle. "It was a great weekend. I definitely won't forget it." "Run Rich Run" is part of the philanthropic efforts of the NFL Network and studio host Rich Eisen. The event began with Eisen running a 40-yard dash for charity. This year, the competition, which was held in mid-April, was expanded to include eight NFL greats who partnered with well-known entrepreneurs from around the country. Faust, who lives in Summit, New Jersey, with his wife and three children, was part of that group after his work with online start-up Diapers.com, before it was sold to Amazon, and as a co-founder of Jet.com, before it was purchased by Walmart. He then worked at Walmart as the head of its supply chain and e-commerce division before founding Olive, a start-up designed to create a more sustainable and convenient delivery and return experience for online shoppers. "After spending 10-plus years trying to drive growth and online spending, this time around I decided I wanted to do something with a social and environmental impact," he said. "I came up with the idea one night when I was taking out the recycling. After about 30 minutes of breaking down boxes and looking up and down the street at my neighbors' houses, it dawned on me it's pretty crazy that we've been shopping online for 30 years now and it still shows up in stuff you have to throw away." The "Run Rich Run" event was held at So-Fi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. The new stadium also will host Super Bowl LVI. The NFL greats who participated in the competition included Hall-of-Famers Jerry Rice, Ray Lewis, Cris Carter, Rod Woodson and Terrell Davis, along with Michael Vick, Torry Holt and Eric Metcalf. They were paired with entrepreneurs and each ran a 40-yard dash, with the lowest combined time declared the winner. Mark Lore, who co-founded Jet.com with Faust and Mike Hanrahan and is partnering with baseball star Alex Rodriquez to purchase the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA, asked Faust to be one of the entrepreneurs in this year's event. Besides Lore and Faust, the business people included Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein, co-founders of Archer; Vinit Bharara, co-founder of Quidsi; Andy Dunn, co-founder of Bonobos; Jenny Fleiss, co-founder of Rent the Runway; Glen Gonzales, co-founder of Jet It; and Jason Robins, co-founder of DraftKings. The competition aired last Saturday during the NFL Network's coverage of the 2021 NFL Draft from Cleveland. The entrepreneurs combined to donate more than $1 million to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "I didn't know much about St. Jude until coming to this event," Faust said. "It's an incredible organization where families with very sick children can go to Memphis and everything is covered by the charity. It's a really phenomenal organization and I was really happy to be able to contribute a small piece to their mission." By a random draw, Faust was paired with Metcalf, who was the first-round pick of the Browns in 1989. Metcalf, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and a Cleveland Browns Legend, played for Cleveland, Atlanta, San Diego, Arizona, Carolina, Washington and Green Bay during his 12-year career. "I recognized his name and I knew he played for the Browns," Faust said. "I did look up a bunch of his highlight reels and I found the game where he had two returns for touchdowns against the Steelers, which was pretty crazy. "All of the guys were great, but Eric specifically was a super-nice guy. We had an event the night before and the actual event in the stadium lasted for five or six hours, so I had small one-off conversations with all of the guys. I was actually able to get the cleats that I wore autographed at the end of it by all of them, which was really cool." Lewis and Lore teamed to win the competition. Faust ran the 40 in 5.78 seconds, while Metcalf, who was hampered by an injury, finished in 5.3 seconds. "When we got to So-Fi Stadium, we had to take a COVID test before we could go in, but once we got in, it was pretty incredible," Faust said. "I've never been on the field of an NFL stadium before and I can't imagine being down on the field with the stands full. "It was a pretty surreal experience, watching these guys run, even the ones who have been out of the league for a while. It's crazy watching them run, especially Ray Lewis seeing how fast he was moving given how big he is. "(My family) watched the segment on the NFL Network. I was not highlighted by any means, given my speed, but they did get a small glimpse of my face coming out of the tunnel with everyone else. They definitely thought it was cool."