In this article Most Caring Coaches 2005

Most Caring Athletes & Coaches 2005

Our '05 Most Caring Athletes

Atlanta Falcons' Warrick Dunn gets single moms into their own homes, while the Miami Heat's Shaquille O'Neal's good works extend from law enforcement to promoting computer literacy among kids.
By Ethan Skolnick and Dennis McCafferty

The moment is pure Miami.
It unfolds at the trendy Delano Hotel in South Beach. Atlanta Falcons star running back Warrick Dunn enters the lobby in a smart tan suit, followed shortly by Miami Heat center Shaquille O'Neal in similar sartorial splendor. The occasion? A photo shoot with the two honorees of USA WEEKEND's annual Most Caring Athlete award. Both men are widely respected in the sports world for their good works.

Career Stats
Warrick Dunn Position: Running back Size: 5-foot-9; 180 pounds College: Florida State Highlights: Speedy Pro Bowler has three 1,000-yard seasons	Shaquille O'Neal Position: Center Size: 7-foot-1; 325 pounds College: LSU Highlights: Three-time NBA Finals MVP with three straight championships

There's also an unexpected visitor on the set: Oscar winner Jamie Foxx, who happens to wander by on his way to the hotel gym. The actor spots Dunn and takes a sprinter's stance. "I'm trying to get in the groove like you," says Foxx, who excelled at high school football. "I used to have it back in the day." The workout can wait; Foxx will stick around and hang out with these two charismatic, big-hearted athletes.

And why not? O'Neal is human electricity. He chats up hotel guests, addressing a group of visitors in their native Italian. He flashes million-dollar smiles effortlessly for the camera. "You know," says O'Neal, to a charmed audience, "I'm very photogenic."

As the photo shoot progresses, it becomes clear that O'Neal and Dunn share common ground. Dunn, 30, was raised in Baton Rouge, La., and O'Neal, 33, launched his legendary career there while playing hoops at Louisiana State University. And they share a passion for law enforcement (Dunn's mother was a police officer), a devotion that underscores their determination to make a difference. To find out more about what drives them, read on:

Making a difference Dunn: Has raised money for down payments and furnishings to allow 52 single mothers to own their own homes. (For more information, go to warrickdunnfoundation.org.) O'Neal: For young people, provides Christmas gifts and has pledged $1 million to support tech-learning centers across the country. Active in training and volunteering with law enforcement agencies coast-to-coast. (Sorry, but Shaq doesn't have a foundation website yet. For more information, write to Real Model Foundation, 21650 Oxnard St., Suite 1925, Woodland Hills, Calif. 91367.)

Warrick Dunn
Inspired by his single mom

If he's not on the football field, Dunn is on the move -- a peek at his day planner is daunting. In a recent month, he was meeting with VIPs in Atlanta to increase support for his non-profit, the Warrick Dunn Foundation. Then he was on a plane, headed overseas to the Middle East as part of an NFL-USO tour. These efforts were wedged among charity events, youth projects and, oh yeah, gridiron workouts. Little wonder Dunn was named the NFL's Man of the Year for outstanding community service.

Ask him how he keeps it all straight and he doesn't get the question -- why wouldn't someone want to do all of these things? "My first job is football, and I take care of that," Dunn says. "The foundation is second. Don't get me wrong: I want to have time for fun and for myself. But I don't want to look back years from now wishing I had done all of these things."

Time wasn't on the side of Dunn's mother. Betty Smothers, a police officer raising six children on her own, was killed during an attempted robbery in 1993 before realizing her dream of owning a home.

The incident inspired Dunn's Homes for the Holidays effort: Since his rookie year in 1997, then with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dunn has made it possible for 52 single moms to move into their own homes in Georgia, Louisiana and Florida. And other NFL stars have launched similar efforts in Missouri, Iowa and elsewhere, with talk of a national launch.

Dunn makes this clear: He doesn't buy homes for these women. He provides funding for the down

payment and furnishings, which can cost up to $40,000 per home. He gets referrals on promising candidates from local agencies and non-profits. Often, the women already are taking home-ownership and financial-planning courses.

"Some moms have been abused by their former husbands," Dunn says. "Some are successfully overcoming drug addiction. They've been working hard for this opportunity. When we show them their new homes, they jump up and down and give me a big squeeze. I've seen teenage boys, not just the girls, cry. When that happens, you know you've made a difference in a family's life."

Shaquille O'Neal
Motivated by a sense of justice

And, as one expects, O'Neal doesn't do anything small. Take, for example, his annual Shaq-A-Claus event in Miami and Los Angeles: He arrived in December as Santa at two elaborate parties for needy children, giving away bikes, video consoles, clothing and other gifts. "We had fake snow and ice machines all over the place," he says. "Next year, I want to do this in Miami and L.A. again, as well as New Jersey, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia. I want to be the first Santa to give 1 million toys on the same day."

His efforts go far beyond toys. He's pledged $1 million to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to support tech-learning centers. "The kids from the places where I grew up can't afford laptops," he says. "When they apply for a job, they'll be far behind."

And he's dead serious about committing to a career in public safety. O'Neal confides that in three or four years, he'll switch to a law-enforcement uniform for good. O'Neal has completed 2,500 training hours with law agencies in California and volunteered on countless ride-alongs and public-awareness efforts for agencies coast-to-coast.

O'Neal also made news this year for earning a master's degree after getting his undergraduate degree in 2000. "It took three years," he says. "When I was playing for the Lakers, I went to the classroom. When I went to Miami, I did the rest online. I'm not finished. I'm going to work on a doctorate in criminology. I'll retire and then -- bam! -- I'll be working for the FBI, ATF or the local police chief. Whoever wants me."

Celebrate with us and our on-air partner, Best Damn Sports Show Period, this year's great leaders.

This spring, USA WEEKEND and Fox Sports Network's Best Damn Sports Show Period invited you to nominate outstanding youth coaches. After reading 1,725 nominations, we asked our judges to make the final selection. Our deliberators were D.C. United soccer coach Peter Nowak, figure-skating coach Pamela Gregory, Georgetown University's men's basketball coach John Thompson III, former U.S. women's soccer coach April Heinrichs, University of Washington football coach Tyrone Willingham and Rodney Peete of Best Damn Sports Show Period.

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Paul Neal, Lawrence, Mass.
Inspired his team to academic rigor and a broader worldview

When Jamaica-born Paul Neal began coaching the Lawrence High School boys' varsity basketball team in 1998, he became a guidance counselor and mentor. First, he had to get the players academically eligible to play. Many had D averages. Second, he had to keep them out of trouble - one star player had ties to gangs. In a school where armed policemen monitor the halls daily, turning things around required the basics - better attitudes, discipline and respect.

Mandatory after-school study hall was established to get the boys focused on their schoolwork. Neal, 36, then set up a mentoring program with the YMCA for his athletes, where guest speakers from airline pilots to authors demonstrated their limitless possibilities in life each week. Never mind that Neal's first season record was 3-17. Parents, mostly moms, were now involved and in the stands to support their children. Grades shot up to A's, B's and C's. They were on time for class, practice and regular appointments. "The game of basketball was just a game I played before," says 18-year-old senior Ruby Balborda, a two-year Lancer. "But after playing with him it related more to life. He's like a father figure to me. For school, he wants us here at 7:30. Each minute someone's late, we run. It makes us work as a team."

When star player Hector Paniagua was left paralyzed after a drive-by shooting this spring, Neal organized auctions and pledge drives to raise more than $200,000 for medical costs, and is building a wheel-chair accessible home for his family with the help of community members and Habitat for Humanity.

Players are standing up for themselves and their future. This year, five Lancer seniors are going to college, two of them on a full scholarship. With their newfound priorities, the team can now boast of their trip to the Division I Semi-finals last year.

Four years ago, when Thompson Godfrey, 43, began coaching the Vineland Sled Stars, he helped the players defy the odds by setting a supreme example: He assured them that they could grow up, get married and have a career despite their disabilities. Godfrey, like many of his players, is a paraplegic.

He gives the "game puck" to a player at each game for encouragement. His team captain, Jimmy Connelly, 15, made the U.S. Paralympic sled-hockey team this year. Barb Lubin, mother of 15-year-old player Jeremy Lubin, recalls Godfrey calling her son while Jeremy was in the hospital to let him know "that even off the ice, he is still thought about and part of the team."

Last year, Edna Chumo thought her volleyball career was over after a car accident left her with two broken legs. Her former coach, Trish Kissiar-Knight at Missouri State University, got Chumo back on her feet, providing food and other necessities. "She would check on me and make sure I was doing OK," says Chumo, now a nursing major at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo.

Kissiar-Knight, 47, has coached volleyball at the junior college for 13 years. Each season, she introduces athletes to local host families, with whom they stay during breaks. Two years ago, she even mobilized the community, which raised funds to bring player Rose Obunaga's young daughter from Kenya to Missouri to live.

Low grades, countless visits to the principal's office and run-ins with the law are evidence that school was not of much interest to many boys at Neal Elementary School. But recess was the only highlight for some 20 "at-risk" boys who played soccer in the school's concrete-riddled field. Fifth-grade math teacher Bruce Unger joined them two years ago and began the Los Coyotes community boys soccer team. He realized that regardless of their impoverished neighborhoods and low economic status that soccer was key to the kids' academic and life success.

With no school soccer program, no budget and little parental support, Unger, 26, found support from the Bryan Soccer Club and the College Station Soccer Club to outfit the team with jerseys, socks and other items. The school's principal even helped with financing equipment. The team is made up of boys from Neal, Kemp and Jones Elementary Schools. Failing students now have A or B averages, thanks to Unger's tutoring. They respond to adults with "yes sir" or "no sir." Soccer mom Angela Degelman's 12-year-old son joined the Los Coyotes this spring. "He had absolutely no respect toward adults," she recalls. "I couldn't get him to do anything around the house before. I don't know if it's magic or what."

Unger's been like a father to some, ushering them to doctor appointments, tournaments and weekend outings in the team's beige RV he purchased last spring.

If they lie, fight, fail classes or treat their parents disrespectfully, they are suspended from the team and left out of the 60-plus games played each year. Their love for soccer overpowers these misbehaviors. Rather, the Los Coyotes beat every community team but one last year. "When I'm in trouble at school or I'm struggling at home, he helps," says Joe Slenas, 12. "Mr. Unger's the only one to get me to do things. He's like a father."

By Tameka L. Hicks, with Andrea Cowsert, Taryn Hartman and Vanessa Schutz.