2005: THE SPORTING NEWS – Good Guys
June 23, 2008
July 2005 — What is a Good Guy? Being a good guy has nothing to do
with athletic performance and everything to do with charitableness.
These are the athletes in the pro sports we cover — the NFL, MLB, NBA,
NHL and NASCAR — who open their hearts as well as their wallets to
serve the needy and unfortunate. This is the seventh year the Sporting
News has selected the top Good Guys. Teams and leagues nominate
candidates. Management and former players are not considered. TSN
selects the winners.
The Sporting News Good Guys: So many, so much generosity by Paul Attner.
Across all sports, athletes give freely to help those in need. Here are
some examples: Scholarships… A sampling of Good Guys who have
established scholarship programs for needy children, allowing the kids
to attend college:
A native of Detroit, Jalen Rose of the Raptors is awarding five
scholarships totaling $50,000 to area seniors to attend the schools of
their choice. He also gave the University of Michigan, his alma mater,
$240,000 to endow an annual scholarship for an incoming freshman, with
special consideration to kids from needy areas or underrepresented
areas.
Jalen has appeared on the Good Guys List three times – 2002, 2003 & 2005.
Why I care about the Good Guys by Paul Attner
Every year it happens, not once or twice but a lot. I read through the
Good Guys nominations that have been submitted by the teams from the
pro sports we cover — 500-plus nominations this year — and some
wonderful act of kindness by an athlete stops me. It stops me because
it is so touching and so right and so perfect that if I weren’t
affected by it, I’d wonder about my heart condition.
So many bad things are written about our athletes today, and
justifiably so. Many of them are bad people; many have forgotten their
roots. I write about Good Guys at this time each year because the bad
guys don’t represent the majority of athletes and it’s good to be
reminded of that. Many athletes care about the community, care about
giving back, remember where they came from. I write about Good Guys
because I know there are lots of guys whose heart conditions will stop
me and bring a smile and maybe a tear. And every year, I am right.
