Xander Bailey’s wish was to be part of the Seattle Sounders. Wish granted. Baily, 18, is battling cystic fibrosis. With the help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he was able to not only train with the team, but also play in their friendly soccer match against Tottenham Hotspur Saturday. With many of the fans in attendance […]
The Arizona Wildcats football program has partnered with the nonprofit organization Uplifting Athletes to help children with rare diseases. Spokesman John Bronson said Arizona is the only Pac-12 school to have an Uplifting Athletes chapter. The Wildcats athletic program released a video Friday of football players and coaches in their weight room interacting with and […]
Winning a championship in any sport is a rewarding experience for an athlete. Mesut Özil knows the feeling well. Özil helped Germany to their fourth FIFA World Cup crown earlier this month in Brazil. Instead of blowing his World Cup bonus on frivolous endeavors, Özil is donating a reported $600,000 to pay for surgeries for […]
Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams’ career has been a good one, and it has provided him with enough means to get the good seats when he travels by air. But the way he sees it, he may not be the most deserving of people to enjoy the luxury. I always give up my seat […]
A new video features Indianapolis Colts players Pat McAfee and Coby Fleener leading a team that makes over an Army veteran’s house. The video was posted to the ThankAHero account on YouTube, and the description says the two Colts players participated in the makeover in hopes of inspiring others to honor a veteran on the […]
While it’s every basketball player’s dream to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, two of this year’s most highly-touted prospects engaged in a rather heartfelt moment days before Thursday’s annual selection. Forced to undergo foot surgery — two screws put in to mend an untimely fracture — on June 20, Kansas center […]
Former Michigan State forward Adreian Payne’s touching friendship with eight-year-old Lacey Holsworth was well-documented throughout the 2013-14 college basketball season. Often appearing like brother and sister more so than top-flight athlete and adoring fan, the duo’s connection captivated fans near and far — especially during the 2014 NCAA tournament. While Holsworth ultimately succumbed to neuroblastoma […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Between the 15th and 16th picks in Thursday night’s draft came a very special selection by the NBA. Commissioner Adam Silver announced at that point that the NBA would let Isaiah Austin fulfill the dream of every young player, making him a ceremonial pick. Just over a week ago, the sophomore […]
Arizona women’s basketball coach Niya Butts did it first. Now football coach Rich Rodriguez is getting in on the fun. The concept is simple: someone gets called out to make a donation to charity. If you accept and complete the challenge, your challenger donates $50 to the Kay Yow Fund, which was created in honor […]
Niya Butts, the women’s basketball coach at Arizona, saw things get way out of hand. In cooperation with the Wildcats, the coach saw a charity-pointed hashtag go viral over the last few weeks, with almost all of the women’s basketball taking notice and jumping in. Jumping in to what? The Cold Water Challenge. That’s the […]
Oftentimes, people who run onto fields of play are spited by players. They are tackled, chased, booed and glared at. That wasn’t the case at the Team Spain practice facility in Brazil this week. Venicius dos Santos, 15, darted onto the field during a World Cup training session, evading security guards and team personnel. Some […]
The Ohio State Buckeyes found a way to make life better for a 4-year-old who is battling leukemia. Joshua Chambers is a big fan of the team, and his story found its way to junior linebacker Joshua Perry. So, Perry and his teammates decided to record messages of support for Chambers. According to ElevenWarriors.com, Perry […]
Robert Griffin III has emerged as a fan favorite through his two-plus seasons in the NFL, and for good reason. The uber athletic quarterback out of Baylor has flashed a likeable personality and overcome some significant adversity in his young career, and he seems to connect with NFL fans in a way that not many […]
It’s not easy to choose one person out of a group of fantastic individuals, but that’s what happened for the Fulton Homes Character Counts scholarship. And the winner? Shadow Mountain High School’s Reid Maurice, who received a $5,000 scholarship. “It’s a tremendous honor to be with you guys and I thank you very much for […]
Last September, five-year-old Jasper Poole was attacked by a dog. He suffered back abrasions from being dragged down the stairs by the leg and needed stitches. Yet, through it all his Under Armour shirt remained unscathed. As such, Pool’s mother Lezlie wrote a letter to the clothing company, and in it she explained how the […]
A draft pick getting signed by his NFL teams is not much of a story. Nor is one getting cut by his NFL team. However, what happened with the Seattle Seahawks and tackle Garrett Scott is a story. You see, the Seahawks selected Scott in the sixth-round out of Marshall, but during a physical for […]
It has become somewhat of an expectation that professional athletes do something to give back to the communities they came from. It can sometimes be turned into a major event by an athlete’s camp, trying to draw attention to the good that they are doing. For others, their good deeds go wholly unnoticed and unreported. […]
Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt’s impact in the local community is by no means limited to his production inside the white lines of Chase Field. The 2013 National League MVP runner-up and the D-backs announced Tuesday that they’ve teamed up to create a new program called ‘Bleacher Creature’ through Goldschmidt’s new fund, Goldy’s Fund […]
High school seniors aren’t often known for understanding their place in the grand scheme of things, but don’t tell that to Mikaela Martin of Horizon Honors High School. A member of the cross country and track teams, Martin coordinated a shoe drive with both high school and middle school students — collecting and cleaning 190 […]
The Arizona Diamondbacks dedicated Brad Ziegler Field in Prescott, Ariz., on Friday. The 34-year-old relief pitcher, who joined the team in 2011, is having a strong 2014 campaign, boasting a 2.53 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 9 holds over 21.1 innings. He recently recorded a 19-game scoreless streak — throwing 18.1 innings in that span […]
For whatever reason, it has become standard for baseball teams to give some of the game’s legends parting gifts during their final appearance in a stadium. New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera received a rocking chair made out of broken bats from the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees gave Chipper Jones the stadium’s third base. Derek […]
The bond between teammates can lead to great things. Such is the case at Ohio State University, where the baseball players spent their Monday trying to see if any of them were a match for a bone-marrow transplant for a teammate. Two weeks prior, freshman pitcher Zach Farmer learned he had myeloid leukemia. So, as […]
There is plenty of debate on whether or not Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater will have a successful NFL career. But there should be no debate as to what kind of person he is. Apparently when he was 8 years old, Bridgewater promised his mother, Rose Murphy, he would buy her a pink Cadillac with pink […]
It appears Chicago Bears offensive guard Kyle Long isn’t just protecting Jay Cutler and Matt Forte these days. According to FoxSports.com, Long was contacted by one of his 76,000 followers on Twitter, Frank Oyston of Huntley, Ill., about a bullying situation that took place between his nine-year-old son Andrew and fellow students at a local […]
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