That have left a lasting impression on you.
It's still the off-season, so I think this could be an interesting topic. Who are some of the pro-athletes (or not even pro, maybe a great college athlete you have met) that has left a permanent memory?
Mine would be Charlie Ward. From some of my other posts, you might know I was a sports writer at the Thomasville Times-Enterprise in Thomasville, Ga. Thomasville is Charlie Ward's hometown, and he comes back every summer to hold a basketball camp.
I had the priviledge to cover it last summer. Basically, I thought I was going to head over to it, talk to Charlie, talk to some of the kids and write my story and that would be it.
Every year, however, he'll invite the campers to his house afterwards for a barbeque. The last day of the camp, I got the stuff I needed for my story and thought...Ok, I got what I needed, I'll go back to the office and do my writeup. Charlie, though, was like what are you doing later on. I just said, going back to the office to do my story. He said, if you get a chance, come by my place and hang out with us. I said, "cool, I'll do that."
I get there and he introduces me to his family (I already knew his father pretty well, he's Thomas County Central HS's clock keeper during basketball season, and I would talk to him whenever I was at a game). But I met his mother and grandmother....his grandmother was one of those southern ladies who had to be in her 80's...But did she ever love to brag about Charlie...lol.
He introduced me to his wife, who is a lawyer in New York, and after talking to her, it was easy to see she really enjoyed going down to Thomasville for this event (actually, she gave me a lot of good quotes for my story too...
)
It was amazing how down to earth he was. We're talking about a Heisman Trophy winner and a 10-year vet in the NBA. But once he got back home, he was just another person. They showed me around the place, and Charlie Sr., made sure to show me the "trophy room" he had for all of his kids. Most of the trophy's were Charlie's, but he also had all of Charlie's brothers and sisters HS trophys in there as well.
When I got there. I was thinking, it was cool that I hung out with a "Star". But by the time I left, I realized he wasn't that much different than anybody else.
With all the negative publicity a lot of athletes are getting, including some of
OSU's, I thought it would be cool if other's shared their better experience with the so-called "Stars".
I was just reading some of the articles written about Charlie...and I think this one sums it up best.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/foo.../charlie_ward/
My favorite quote is..."A devout Christian who spent evenings reading the Bible, Ward was cool ice surrounded by flamboyant fire. On a team of yappers, he led by quiet example. "I pick and choose when I want to talk," he says. "Guys respect you for that. Go out and do your job, and people will follow you."
That's Charlie.
If any of you have a story, feel free to share it. I would especially like to hear some stuff about some of past
OSU guys. Unfortunetely, I haven't had the pleasure to meet any of the Woody Hayes', Eddie George's, Antoine Winfield's, Korey Stringer's...etc.
