|
Issue Date: October 12, 2003
MOST CARING ATHLETES
By Dennis McCafferty
For the 11th time, USA WEEKEND Magazine honors caring men and women -- both professional athletes and youth coaches -- who give back to their communities overtime.
A public with a seemingly insatiable need for sports connects emotionally with athletes' passions off the field.
|
THIS WEEKEND we're pleased to introduce USA WEEKEND readers to our 2003 Most Caring Athletes and Most Caring Coaches. Although they come from different sports fields and play different roles, our honorees share a passion for athletic excellence and for public service in their communities.
How did we settle on these Most Caring Athletes? (For the Most Caring Coaches, see below.) Earlier this year, we invited all the major professional sports teams and athletic organizations to nominate members who go well beyond the normal community outreach that most sports franchises encourage. Many outstanding, compelling candidates later, we settled on two athletes who represent the gamut of philanthropy and activism that is alive in the sports world. One of our honorees is well-launched in his work with an important health issue, while our second Most Caring Athlete is a college student who pursues charity work while balancing an international skating career.
Why does USA WEEKEND Magazine choose to honor athletes each year? Because we believe it's another way to tell stories about people inspiring other people -- much like Make A Difference Day, the national day of volunteering we sponsor each October.
Since 1994, when we launched the Most Caring Athlete Awards (See an update on some past winners), USA WEEKEND has brought you stories of a golfer who provides guidance for kids and a tennis player who runs her own non-profit academy to promote health, fitness and sportsmanship. There is the basketball player who collects desperately need medical supplies for his HIV/AIDS-racked homeland, and a Super Bowl star who helps lead the fight against cystic fibrosis, a disease that struck his young son.
And when their stories are told here, the resulting outpouring of goodwill can be catching. The athletes find their foundations and causes are strengthened by the increased awareness, as well as by the magazine's $5,000 donation to their special causes. (And USA WEEKEND is now teamed with the Gannett Foundation to further benefit sports, by giving $10,000 each to two New York projects: America Scores, which encourages children in soccer and creative writing, and Harlem RBI Inc., which teaches kids to maximize their potential through baseball.)
Why are many athletes so active in charity work when year-round training, extensive travel and constant distractions weigh heavily on their time? "Community service and athletes got big first with the NFL, with its partnerships with non-profits," explains Hadley Morash, executive director of MVPhilanthropy, a Boston-based non-profit that helps athletes launch foundations. "The players then discovered they could establish [meaningful] foundations, and that mind-set spread to other sports. It's like wildfire now. Athletes of all sports are making more money than ever, so they have more to give. And now, with media exposure greater than ever, it gives them more access to get the word out."
In most cases, these athletes recognize that their playing time is a valuable window, one that may close with their next injury. So they use this opportunity to the fullest, realizing that a public with a seemingly insatiable need for sports also will connect emotionally with their favorite athletes' off-the-field passions. The value of the good work pursued by athletes is magnified when fans, touched by their stories, follow their example.
Our inspiring athletes for 2003 are the NFL's Donovan McNabb, 26, and world champion figure skater Michelle Kwan, 23. McNabb is a perennial Pro Bowl pick, a charismatic star who draws the fans with his exciting approach to the game and reaps rewards with his reported 12-year, $115 million contract and endorsement deals. Kwan isn't at that income level -- she's still in college, after all -- but she has impressively planted seeds of service that will grow as her career does. Here are their stories:
Go to top
DONOVAN MCNABB
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback
Having a father with diabetes was bad enough, McNabb thought, but my brother, too? Sean? Sean, the older brother, the mentor, the role model? Sean, the one who was the basketball, football and track star in the McNabb family long before anyone was talking about Donovan?
It wasn't right. But instead of useless questions, McNabb did something about it. His Donovan McNabb Foundation has contributed to many causes, such as children's hospital programs, but fighting diabetes remains its driving force. Working closely with the American Diabetes Association, McNabb has sponsored kids to attend ADA youth camps, where they play sports and otherwise enjoy the summer camp experience of any healthy kid. McNabb visits the camps and gives a hands-on clinic in catching and throwing a ball. His support has been so significant that a camp in Pennsylvania now bears his name.
"We stress to them the positive things," McNabb says. "No matter how you look at it, you're still a kid. You want to live a normal life. You want to be disease-free. You want to play sports. You don't want to be reminded constantly that you're different."
Educating the public about diabetes and encouraging people to get tested remains the greatest focus, with the whole McNabb family getting into the act -- Sean, father Sam and mom Wilma, who runs the day-to-day operations. (Yes, she's the one who appears with her son in those homey Campbell's soup commercials.)
"My mom was a nurse," McNabb says. "She prepared us for being healthy. Now we spend our time reaching out to people with the same purpose in mind. We tell them it's important to know about yourself and the people around you, and to get tested. [Diabetes] affects a great deal of the African-American community. So when they see what my foundation is doing, they will say, 'Here's an African American who is trying to deal with this disease. Maybe this is something serious. Maybe I should get tested.' "
For more information about McNabb's foundation, go to donovanmcnabb.com.
Go to top
MICHELLE KWAN
Figure skater
How's this for an athletic college kid's schedule? Try to get through UCLA while pursuing a career as the world's top skater and, oh, just a few other things: serve as national spokeswoman for the Children's Miracle Network to raise awareness of the needs of children's hospitals; fly to Hong Kong (where Kwan's parents were born) to support the city's tourism effort after its struggles with the SARS epidemic; and launch a scholarship program with Chevrolet that benefits 10 college-bound female athletes a year.
"To see the reaction on kids' faces when they realize what they can do pulls at your heartstrings."
|
No one would fault the Olympic star for focusing on skating and college. But Kwan is determined to counter negative images of young women in popular entertainment. "Girls need to have good role models," Kwan says. "These days, they get so much of MTV and these wild television shows that the kind of person a girl should be doesn't emerge as a reality. I'm trying to get the message out that you have to be a good citizen and do the most with what you have. Study hard. Treat others the way you want to be treated."
Many of her charitable efforts started early. When Kwan was 13, fans tossed stuffed animals on the ice for her. (They threw them by the hundreds after word got out that she liked them.) Soon, she had a roomful. "I wondered, 'What am I going to do with all of these stuffed animals?' " she says. " 'I love them, but I can't hug them all.' " That's when she decided to visit a children's hospital near her home in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., and share her furry friends with sick kids. That visit led to her present role with the Children's Miracle Network, which raises funds for 170 children's hospitals across North America.
As for the future? Anything's possible. Right now, Kwan is getting through school by taking most of her classes during the summer (the off-season for skating). Whatever path she takes after skating, she knows it will involve helping people. "I want to spend more time helping kids," Kwan says. "Take after-school programs: It's important to give them things to do, like sports and activities. If you catch them early on, you can avoid many problems."
Kwan doesn't have a foundation yet. To find out more about the Children's Miracle Network, go to cmn.org.
Go to top
Meet our Most Caring Coaches
LAST WINTER, we invited readers to nominate candidates for the 2003 Most Caring Coach Awards. We then asked four professionals to be our judges: Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, UCLA women's swim coach Cyndi Gallagher, L.A. Galaxy soccer coach Sigi Schmid and University of Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington. Each of the three Most Caring Coaches receives $1,000.
Go to top
MIKE FLYNT
Jackson, Miss.
For years, Stevie Flynt sat on the sidelines while her older brothers played soccer. She desperately wanted to play, too. But there were no programs for blind kids like Stevie. So dad Mike Flynt started the TOPSoccer V.I. League, the country's first league for the visually impaired, in fall 2002. It's a spinoff of the TOPSoccer League for kids with disabilities. Nearly 30 kids, in kindergarten through ninth grade, now participate.
|
Mike Flynt created a soccer league for blind children at the urging of his daughter, Stevie.
|
Flynt, 42, teamed up with local Lions Clubs, the Mississippi Youth Soccer Association, the Northwest Rankin Athletic Association and the Mississippi School for the Blind, for resources and funding. Now teen "soccer buddies" run alongside the kids as they navigate the ball toward the goal. Bells inside the balls and a buzzing goal alert players to which direction they should run and kick.
Making sure all children are included in everyday activities is Flynt's main goal. L.A. Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid asked the youth coach to describe his greatest satisfaction. "To actually see the reaction on these kids' faces when they realize what they can do. It will really pull at your heartstrings," Flynt replied.
Go to top
JENELLE SPEARMON
Chicago
Jenelle Spearmon & Michelle Kwan
Most Caring Coach Jenelle Spearmon, who started a Chicago girls' basketball team from scratch, and Most Caring Athlete Michelle Kwan have their eyes on the same goal: to empower young women to be the best they can be, as athletes, students and citizens.
|
When Jenelle Spearmon, 31, began teaching math at Chicago's John Hope School, it was an elementary school with no girls basketball team. Its location in the gang-infested neighborhood of Englewood challenged her girls daily. So to occupy their time and build self-esteem, she established the Lady Eagles at the now John Hope College Preparatory High School.
Lack of a regulation school gym forces the team to travel every day to the old Washington Park Field House for practice. Spearmon sets the bar high for her girls: The Lady Eagles have an average GPA of 3.1. She also has organized team service projects, washed uniforms and carpooled to players' family functions.
Three years ago, the Lady Eagles began competing in the city and state championships as a small underdog team. This year the team won the 2003 Illinois State Class A championship. Spearmon's greatest pleasure: "I have the advantage of seeing them mature and grow into young adults."
Go to top
MARCUS BORDEN
South River, N.J.
Most Caring Coach Marcus Borden of East Brunswick (N.J.) High School and Most Caring Athlete Donovan McNabb share a passion for the pigskin and for public service. McNabb tackles diabetes awareness; Borden turned an all-star game into a charity fund-raiser.
|
In July, thousands of spectators filed into New Jersey's East Brunswick High School stadium for the Snapple Bowl. This summertime rite of passage -- the brainchild of head football coach Marcus Borden -- pits the All-Star players from neighboring counties against one another for a night of football and fund-raising. Since its launch a decade ago, it has raised more than $135,000 for Children's Specialized Hospital in Mountainside and the Lakeview School for disabled students in Edison.
Borden organizes pep rallies at the two children's facilities with the young patients, the All-Star players and cheerleaders. Many of these kids then turn out en masse the next week to root for the team that paid them a visit. Each player plays for a specific child during the event. Borden says it's "what the game is really all about. I'm a firm believer that you should be able to give something back to the community."
Go to top
|
They keep on giving
Our past Most Caring Athletes are continuing their good works. Here's an update on five.
Golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez, a 1994 winner, is celebrating the 26th year of his youth foundation (chichi.org). And his Modesta-Robbins Partnership School in Clearwater, Fla., offers after-school tutoring and teaches fifth- and sixth-graders to be responsible citizens.
Tennis player Zina Garrison Jackson, a 1994 winner who grew up playing on public courts, keeps her foundation going strong (zinagarrison.org). Her Houston tennis program has offered free lessons to 7,000 kids.
Basketball's Dikembe Mutombo, a 1999 honoree, recently won a $2 million appropriation from Congress for his foundation (dmf.org) to upgrade clinics and health centers in his native Congo, where HIV/AIDS is pandemic.
Super Bowl quarterback Boomer Esiason, a 1996 winner, has raised $22 million for cystic fibrosis (his son has the disease) since launching his foundation 10 years ago (esiason.org).
Tennis' Andre Agassi, a 2001 Most Caring Athlete, is raising $18 million to add a high school to the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas. The school now serves children in grades 3 to 7 (agassifoundation.org).
|
-- Tameka L. Hicks with Devin Zatorski
Cover by BRAD TRENT for USA WEEKEND
|
