ECU (East Carolina University) football coach Scottie Montgomery just dished out the best Mother's Day present ever. And, it wasn't even for his own mom. Montgomery surprised Tia Chapman, the mother of ECU walk-on defensive end Kiante Anderson, with a full scholarship in front of her co-workers. Chapman was at work at an elementary school when the head coach walked [...]
Golf director Paul Earnest eyes the green at his resort. Photo: Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas There is always something magical about “Nelson Week” in Texas. Known for low scores, high heels and a legion of red-panted Salesmanship Club member volunteers, the AT&T Byron Nelson, like the Masters, transcends the sport of golf. It’s [...]
It's not often that a photo of an 88-year-old man and an 84-year-old woman goes viral. However, Bob and Betty Kinder are far from ordinary. Bob wore a "sexy" blue hat he had custom-designed for the Oklahoma City Memorial 5K on April 30. To be specific, it read, "SEXY OLD FART." As he and his wife, Betty, crossed the finish [...]
It was an early kickoff to Mother's Day for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s mom, Brenda. The NASCAR driver wrote a touching letter to his mom and then read it aloud in front of a camera, thinking that he was going to be the one surprising her with a sweet message on Mother's Day. He had no idea she was in [...]
Editor's Note: We've asked a select few athletes who we've featured on Purpose2Play to write about who inspires them. Up first is SaraMae Hollandsworth, a former college runner who lost her feet to sepsis, but became a more well-rounded athlete because of it. Our feature story on her was published in November of 2016. When I was asked to write [...]
Editor's Note: This story originally appeared in The Red and Black (April, 2017), an independent student-run daily paper of the University of Georgia-Athens. With permission from the organization, the author (Michael Hebert), and the Burton family, we are republishing the article in its entirety. When it came to the birth of their second child, Jay and Lezlie Burton didn’t know [...]
How would you celebrate if you made a game-winning goal in overtime in the second round of the NHL playoffs to take a 3-2 series lead? If you're Kyle Turris of the Ottawa Senators, you stop by an end-of-season banquet for the Capital City Condors, a local hockey team for youth with developmental disabilities. Just hours after his big moment [...]
Long before Pro Bowl wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders was catching passes from Pro Bowl quarterbacks in the NFL, he was lighting it up on the basketball court with his local Boys and Girls Club in tiny Bellville, Texas. "I remember summer. Summertime, it was like, everyone was out of school, but everybody was still in the community and still at [...]
At 95 years old, Mark Sertich still mows his lawn, shovels his driveway, and drives himself to the store. Pretty remarkable, right? Now consider that fact that he plays ice hockey three times a week against men half his age. The Duluth, Minn. resident plays in a hockey league which mostly consists of current and retired firefighters. He never was [...]
Torrey Smith spent three seasons as a wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, and even though he's suiting up for the Philadelphia Eagles this year, his heart still belongs in the crab cake capital of the world. Smith and his wife, Chanel, paid the adoption fees of 46 homeless dogs and cats at the BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care [...]