Name the professional athletes you respect the most and why.
This is an excellent Topic Of The Day and, with enough time and thought, I’d love to give a detailed Top 10 list (maybe another time). So, in order to get this in before day’s end and not miss my college football, I’ll keep it to a few that immediately come to mind:
1. Stephon Marbury (former NBA Player)
In 2001, he donated $250,000 to help victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York.
In 2005, he donated between $500,000 and $1,000,000 to aid victims of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
In 2006, Stephon created the “Starbury” shoe and clothing line. At the affordable price of $14.98, Stephon’s partnership with Steve & Barry’s made it possible for children to have a pair of “professional” basketball shoes that were neither expensive nor a target for theft.
In 2007, he donated $4,000,000 to the city of New York, split evenly between the NYPD, FDNY, EMT and the NTC Teacher’s Fund.
2. Warrick Dunn (former NFL Player)
Through his Homes for the Holidays (HFTH) 1997 program and Warrick Dunn Charities (WDC) in 2002, over 150 single parents and 300 dependents in Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Tampa and Tallahassee received assistance for first-time home ownership.
His purpose was to provide families with a positive home environment, making it possible for children to benefit in their educational, social and economic lives.
It should be noted that future NFL star Deshaun Watson’s family was one of the recipients of Dunn’s generosity.
He later challenged all NFL players (with the exception of members of the New Orleans Saints) to each donate a minimum of $5,000, resulting in over $5 million in contributions for the effort.
3. Tedy Bruschi (former NFL player)
In 2005, at age 31, Tedy Bruschi suffered from an ischemic stroke, which was caused by a blocked artery in his brain. He sat out the subsequent season to undergo extensive recuperative therapy and, in October, 2005, was medically cleared to return to play.
Ok, you all know the level of physicality that someone must have in order to play professional football. Now, consider the fact that he overcame a STROKE, and not only regained functionality to live a normal life, but to play a professional sport at this high caliber!
That, my friends, is truly inspirational.
Special Nod:
4. Jorge Castillo (high school classmate and friend)
My final entry is not professional athlete, rather a former wrestler from my high school in East Chicago.
Jorge was one of the toughest wrestlers I’d ever seen in action who also marched with me in the Washington High school marching band as a percussionist. One day in the mid 1980s, Jorge witnessed a robbery in progress and ran in to intervene. The robber stabbed him in his chest during the scuffle. Jorge, with the knife planted in his chest, used his expertise to lock the assailant in a wrestling hold, which he maintained until the police arrived to arrest the perpetrator. Thankfully, Jorge survived and fully recovered.
Although Jorge never competed at the professional level, his feat easily makes him worthy of this list of athletes that I respect. In fact, one of the greatest of all time.
And I am so proud to know him.
The information above was provided by quick research and personal memory and is no way near as comprehensive and detailed as the entries could be. If any of the preceding is incorrect, please accept my apologies and charge it to my head, not my heart.
What professional athletes do you respect and why?
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