A gift for giving

Sporting News, The, August 2, 1999 by Paul Attner

Put me out of business, says Green, who has developed this learning center over the past six years. Elevate the level of instruction and the amount of resources available to inner-city schools throughout the nation and there would be no need for a learning center like this one. But he knows it won't happen, so he dreams of opening more learning centers, not only in D.C. but in other dries, so the strictures of poverty and location won't continue to churn out despair instead of potential. He wants to break this cycle; it has become his life's crusade.

Green, going into his 17th season as a cornerback with the Redskins, is a rarity even among our Good Guys. The vast majority of today's athletes would never venture into the poorest parts of the dries where they play. To work and mingle on a regular basis in an area like this, where drag dealers--not athletes--drive the fanciest cars? Forget it.

Why Good Guys? David Robinson and Darrell Green, that's why. See them not as overpaid athletes but as human beings with enormous hearts who are using their wealth and status to benefit others in a substantial manner--a manner that will leave a lasting effect on their adopted communities. That is why they are the co-recipients of the first SPORTING NEWS Good Guy Award.

Fortunately, they have plenty of company. We had more than 250 nominations from teams in the four pro leagues, each one a good guy in his right. The giving back by athletes is remarkable. It ranges from participation in team- and league-sponsored programs--the leagues are increasingly proactive in community relations--to an incredible assortment of individual projects. A growing number of athletes have established foundations through which they funnel their own money plus funds raised through such events as golf tournaments and auctions. Some players see the foundations as the end-all of their desire to help the community; fortunately, others are much more hands-on. They become intimately involved with charitable groups, particularly with kids' organizations, and do countless hours of volunteer work.

Everyone should see Emmitt Smith or Dan Marino or Craig Biggio or Karl Malone visit privately with a child from the Make-A-Wish or Starlight foundations, kids who are terminally ill, many with only days left. These are remarkable, emotional experiences for the adults, and exhilarating moments for the kids. Hundreds of these meetings take place every year, involving scores of willing athletes, almost always without publicity or TV cameras. Add in thousands of hospital visits to sick kids and adults, and it is an impressive display of time and understanding by our pro athletes.

Athletes buy and then give away thousands of tickets annually, so less-fortunate kids and their parents can attend games. At least 100,000 people who could never afford to go through the turnstiles will see sporting events this year because of these ticket purchases.

Athletes also raise enormous sums of money, an estimated $40 million annually and growing. Some with big-name clout-Troy Aikman, Sammy Sosa, Cal Ripken Jr.--have parlayed their fame into impressive enterprises such as medical clinics and hospital playrooms. Or they pledge enormous generosity: Mark McGwire's $3 million to fight child abuse; Steve Smith's $2.5 million toward an athletic academic center at his alma mater, Michigan State.