Amazing Athletes

[Thorlifter]

I thought it would be fun to mention athletes that go beyond the pampered, spoiled, primadonna's that we most often hear about. There are many good people out there that truly help others in need.

I'll start with Dikembe Mutombo. Some of this I copied direct from Wiki.....

Dikembe played 18 seasons in the NBA and is a 4 time Defensive Player of the Year and ranks 2nd in NBA history in blocked shots behind only Hakeem Olajuwan.

He speaks 9 languages fluently! Can you imagine that? I can barely speak English. He speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Tshiluba, Swahili, Lingala and two other Central African varieties. He has been awarded two honorary doctorate degrees, one from Georgetown University and the other from Havorford.

Dikembe is a well known humanitarian. He personally donated over $18 million to build a $29 million, 300 bed hospital in the Congo, where he is from and is named after his mother. It finally opened in 2007 and is the first modern structure built in the region in over 40 years. His hospital is on a 12-acre (49,000 m2) site on the outskirts of Kinshasa in Masina, where about a quarter of the city's 7.5 million residents live in poverty. It is minutes from Kinshasa's airport and near a bustling open-air market. The hospital has full telemedicine capabilities with the United States and Europe through the network established by Medical Missions for Children.

He is the winner of the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001 and 2009 for his efforts. For his feats, The Sporting News named him as one of the "Good Guys in Sports" in 1999 and 2000, and in 1999, he was elected as one of 20 winners of the President's Service Awards, the nation's highest honor for volunteer service. In 2004, he also participated in the Basketball Without Borders NBA program, where NBA stars like Shawn Bradley, Malik Rose and DeSagana Diop toured Africa to spread the word about basketball and to improve the infrastructure. He also paid for uniforms and expenses for the Zaire women's basketball team during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. Mutombo is a spokesman for the international relief agency, CARE and is the first Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Program.

In honor of his humanitarianism, Mutombo was invited to President George W. Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address and was referred to as a "son of the Congo" by the President in his speech. Mutombo later said, "My heart was full of joy. I didn't know the President was going to say such great remarks."

On April 13, 2011, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health awarded Dikembe Mutombo the Goodermote Humanitarian Award "for his efforts to reduce polio globally as well as his work improving the health of neglected and underserved populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo." Michael J. Klag, dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health said "Mr. Mutombo is a winner in many ways—on the court and as a humanitarian. His work has improved the health of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center is a model for the region. Likewise, Mr. Mutombo has been instrumental in the fight against polio by bolstering vaccination efforts and bringing treatment to victims of the disease."

I think Mr. Motumbo is a remarkable man and have the utmost respect for him. I know there are other exemplary athletes out there. Who would you name?

 

[B-17engineer]

Ladanian Tomlinson each year buy 2000 thanksgiving dinners for those in need

 

[Thorlifter]

Braylon Edwards gave 79 students $10,000 for college

At 22 college campuses across the country, there are 79 students who may not otherwise be there if not for the generosity of Braylon Edwards.

As a Cleveland Browns rookie in 2005, Edwards announced he'd give $10,000 in scholarships to 100 area eighth-graders if they could graduate high school with over a 2.5 GPA and 15 hours community service. Of the 100 who were afforded the opportunity, 79 met the criteria and have begun their first year of college. Many are attending Ohio universities, but the schools represented spread across the country and include Harvard, Cornell and Johns Hopkins.

"Without this scholarship, I probably wouldn't be here," Bowling Green freshman David Gholston told ESPN's Rick Reilly.
Edwards and his mother developed the Advance 100 program as a way to give back. The way they saw it, they were blessed with Edwards' football abilities and felt the need to help out others with their good fortune. Though they didn't expect so many of the students to fit the criteria (only half of Cleveland public school students graduate high school), Edwards didn't shy away from his commitment. In fact, he increased it.

The 79 students were provided with laptops and other supplies to help them out when they arrived on campus.
"I'm supposed to give people a chance like I was given a chance," Edwards said.

Edwards hasn't played for the Browns in two years. He's a member of the San Francisco 49ers this season and is earning a $1 million base salary for the year, just about what he'll pay those 79 students he promised to help years ago.