Real Sports Heroes, Lt. Col. Greg Gadson and "KJ"

Sports heroes are just that, sports heroes. Most often, beyond the end zone, they are not much of a hero. In fact, many are the opposite.

But occasionally one of them will surprise us.  Today I write of two, and one is a Lieutenant Colonel who is "starring" in the Super Bowl tomorrow.

But I start with Kevin Johnson. "KJ", former Point Guard of the Phoenix Suns, has a phenomenal record as a basketball player. Nothing short of incredible. But he has actually done far more off the court than he ever achieved on the court. Kevin Johnson voluntary walked off the court at the height of his lucrative career, to go back to his home town of Sacramento to rebuild the education structure of his childhood neighborhood. When most of his peers were purchasing palatial residences, Kevin Johnson moved back into a small home in his old neighborhood and has helped kids every since. Many kids. At great personal sacrifice.

His vehicle for change? Hope.  Discipline. Focus. Unwavering optimism. Lots of it. All of which he builds via St. HOPE Corporation. 

I  have met some of the kids he has helped-- kids who thought they had no chance, who told me about how St. HOPE gave them hope, gave them opportunity when no one else was doing so. KJ raised standards, expectations, and gave them the vision of a positive future. The results bring tears to your eyes, literally. When you hear the stories of these kids surviving against odds that are heavily stacked against them and not only surviving but surpassing and succeeding, then going on to set the record straight at college, landing great careers and a healthy life - you can't help but well up with tears. One of his students, a beautiful young girl, was shot in the eye in gang crossfire. She is going on to college this year, and is an inspiration to many. We are fighting brutal wars of violence back home and in KJ's front line, his team is winning.

"KJ" #7,  is a man of hope, who not only feels hope but expands it, gives it a horizon, doesn't give up, doesn't bow down to the demands of the negative and bitter people in the world and thus produces change in the hearts and hopes of young children. That's a real hero who just happens to have played phenomenal basketball.

It's Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow.  And the only guy on the field who will be called a hero in my book, is Lt. Col. Greg Gadson.  This article about him is worth reading and the video worth watching. A very accomplished football athlete himself, Lt. Col. Greg Gadson lost his legs in Iraq. He happens to know NY Giants personally, and he is their inspiration. Gadson put the game of football in perspective in the Giants locker room.  He says:

"I didn't really talk to them about a game, I just talked to them about the way I believe you want to live your life.

Because it can all change and you don't ever want to have to look back and wonder if you'd had given your best on a play or done done something differently. I told them that I don't have any regrets. You know I miss my legs. I don't say that I'm glad they're gone. But I wouldn't change a thing. My life's been good."

If the Giants show a little more ferocity than an underdog would normally muster, it single handedly is the spirit of Lt. Col. Greg Gadson on the field. No question.

At the recent Packers game, with sub zero temperatures, the game was in overtime when Webster intercepted Brett Favre's pass at the Packers' 34-yard line. That ball was deposited in the hands of Gadson.

"I felt like he deserved the ball," Webster said, "because he's a big motivating factor for me, personally, and for the team."