John and Shannon St. Clair
John St. Clair (Col ’99) and Shannon St. Clair (Col ’99) met at the U.Va. bookstore in August 1995. “Out of 5000 freshmen, John was in two of my classes our first semester and his dorm was Lile, which was right behind my dorm Tuttle,” says Shannon.
John was a football player at U.Va. for five years. In 2000, he was drafted in the third round by the Rams and both he and Shannon moved to St. Louis. Shannon worked as a marketing coordinator for a commercial real estate firm and John proposed to her on Christmas day that year. Shannon began her first company, designing jerseys for the other wives and children of St. Louis Rams players. John later played for the Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns.
Shannon became a jewelry designer and launched a company, Shannon Saint Clair, in 2008. Her handcrafted creations have been worn by celebrities like Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, Gabrielle Union and Kelly Rowland. Shannon recently exhibited her work at the Miami Beach International Fashion Week.
After the 2010 season, John retired after 11 years in the NFL and was inducted into the U.Va. Football Hall of Fame.
John and Shannon’s most recent project has been founding the John Saint Clair Foundation. “It will help more high school students in John’s hometown of Roanoke, Va., enroll in college,” says Shannon. “College enrollment has been in decline there because many families lack financial means.”
Comments
I think is wonderful! I’m a Roanoke native and would be happy to help in any way that I can! Great work John & Shannon! What an awesome way to give back to your hometown!
This is a great UVA couple who cares about young
people and their education! An incredible way to
give back to your city!
What a wonderful couple! It’s alway a welcome story where alumni find love, enjoy success, or give back to the community. Here we have the distinction of a pair of alumni who have done all three.
- A knock on the editor for the spelling of Lile.
This a great work. I too am interested in this problem. I was just discussing that a pressing issue in this country is building sustainable communities, and this begins with education. The problem is cyclic. Education funding takes one of the hardest cuts, however it is almost imperative in order for the members of a community to command the salary needed to be able to pay taxes back to the municipality and for the municipality to convince companies to do business in the area. We have some of the same issues in my city as well. Let me know if you need assistance.
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