Saturday, October 23, 2004
Good Sports: Making a difference
Pro athletes, others quietly give their time and money to make life in our community better
By Bill Koch
Enquirer staff writer
Willie Anderson, the Bengals' Pro Bowl offensive tackle, used to think it was wrong to let people know what he was doing to help the community.
"I didn't want people knowing who I was giving money to or what I was doing because I wasn't doing it for publicity," Anderson said.
But he realized a few years ago that people should know that the pro athletes in this town aren't just commanding high salaries and soaking up tax dollars for stadium construction. They are giving something back to the community.
"People need to see that there are athletes who are doing something positive instead of just getting in trouble all the time," said Anderson, the Bengals' nominee for the NFL's Man of the Year Award in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
"There are more athletes doing positive things than the ones doing bad things. Every guy's not going to jail. We are some good guys, and we do care about the city we live in."
In Cincinnati, there are plenty of athletes like Anderson who are giving back, along with former athletes and coaches, all using their positions to do something positive for the people who live in this area and need help.
They work quietly behind the scenes to help underprivileged children and support a host of charities, trading on their fame and their financial success to improve the quality of life in the community in which they make their living.
"This is a heck of a town," University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins said. "There's a lot of people doing a lot of different things, a lot more than people realize."
Doug Pelfrey can vouch for that.
The former Bengals place kicker in 1995 founded Kicks for Kids, which seeks to "provide area children at risk with opportunities to pursue their dreams."
Pelfrey, a Scott High School graduate who played for the Bengals in 1993-99, also operates a business that runs nonprofit organizations similar to Kicks for Kids in other cities.
"I get to see how other cities compare with Cincinnati."
"The City of Cincinnati as a whole seems to support its former athletes as well as present athletes in much greater capacity than other cities. I think it's the spirit of the town. It's a good town with good people."
One of the most visible former athletes in town is former Bengal Anthony Muñoz, who established the Anthony Muñoz Foundation two years ago "to support children of all race and socioeconomic backgrounds."
He not only raises money for his causes - $311,778 in a little more than two years, according to Gregg Darbyshire, the foundation's executive director - he devotes his time to those causes through what he calls "sweat equity."
"When you're hands-on, kids are able to see that you're really going to be a part of this," Muñoz said. "You can talk about something, but until they see you actually living it, that's where the impact really takes effect."
UC's Huggins, Reds director of player development Tim Naehring and former Bengal Cris Collinsworth are also among the most active in the community either through fund-raising or hands-on work, or both.
In addition, the ATP Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati has been a huge source of charitable revenue for Greater Cincinnati, having raised $5.9 million for Children's Hospital Medical Center and Tennis for City Youth since 1974.
As an organization, the Reds have made a commitment to giving back by establishing the Cincinnati Reds Community Fund, which has raised about $250,000 since its inception in July 2001, said Charlie Frank, executive director of the fund.
Last year, the club launched its first youth outreach program, called the Reds Rookie Success League, a character-building summer baseball league for at-risk 8- and 9-year-old girls and boys.
Many Reds players, like the Bengals, do plenty on their own. The most active are first baseman Sean Casey and relief pitcher Danny Graves.
"The image of professional athletes is that they're selfish and whiny, and they make all this money," Casey said. "But we're just normal people, too, who are just fortunate enough to be able to do this for a living where you get paid well.
"The majority of the world doesn't have the resources that we have, so you have to give back. You have to realize that it's not just about you."
Said Graves: "Everybody has this stereotype of professional athletes, that we just want money. The money's great, but at the same time, people don't realize what we do off the field. They don't get a chance to see what kind of people we are."
Some go out of their way to make sure the public doesn't find out about their charitable work.
Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. recently donated $25,000 to the Reds Community Fund. He's on the national board of directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and is active in the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He also makes unannounced visits to Children's Hospital Medical Center.
But Griffey is very private about what he does in the community to the point that the Reds referred questions about his community work to his agent, Brian Goldberg.
"His mom and dad told him at an early age how blessed he was," Goldberg said, "and how he should never forget the people who weren't so blessed."
Marvin Lewis, in his second year as Bengals head coach, is relatively new to Cincinnati's athletic community and its charities, but it didn't take him long to get into the swing of things, much as he did in Baltimore, where he worked as the Ravens' defensive coordinator.
"When coaches and athletes speak, I think young people hear it and listen better," said Lewis, whose Marvin Lewis Community Fund has raised about $800,000 in its first year, said Sharon Thomas, the fund's director of development.
Lewis has urged his players not only to prepare themselves for their work on the field, but to reach into the community in other ways.
Anderson and a few others had been involved in the community before Lewis' arrival, but the work they did rarely received much publicity while the organization was struggling to win games. In Lewis' first year, the team went 8-8.
"It never got publicized before because it seemed like people wanted to concentrate more on us losing football games than on us giving back to the community," Anderson said.
About Make A Difference Day
Today is the 14th annual Make A Difference Day, created by USA Weekend magazine in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation. The fourth Saturday of every October, people are encouraged to volunteer in their communities. Millions have participated in projects ranging from collecting clothing for the homeless to spending time helping an elderly neighbor or relative. Paul Newman has donated $100,000 a year for the past 10 years to the annual Make A Difference Day Awards, which honor individuals or groups for outstanding projects.
