Earlier this week, the University of Memphis played Bowling Green State University in an NCAA Women’s basketball game. This game decided which team would advance to the Great Eight. Bowling Green won this game 73-60. Immediately following the game, Memphis‘ Jamirah Shutes punched Bowling Green’s Elissa Brett in the face in the postgame handshake line. Brett immediately went to the ground. Shutes was whisked off the court. Within the hour, Shutes was charged with assault by the Bowling Green State University police. BGSU police charge Memphis basketball player with assault after apparent WNIT p ..read more

If you don’t know, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is one of the greatest athletes ever to play professional sports. He won three national championships with the UCLA Bruins and then won 6 NBA championships.  He is a six-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, 19-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion, and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams. And up until a few weeks ago, he was the NBA’s leading all-time scorer. That is quite a resume. It’s also important to know that Kareem is a good guy. He is humble and kind. He doesn’t brag or call attention to himself. His religion is ..read more

Cotton Center was playing Amherst High High School in a district game. About halfway through the third period, a player from Amherst fouled out of the game. And, since they only had 5 players to start the game, this meant Amherst could only field a 4-person team for the rest of the game.  Obviously, this would give Cotton Center a big advantage who had a full team and could finish the game with the customary 5 players on the court.  However, Troy Moses, the coach of Cotton Center, asked his team how they wanted to handle this situation. The players quickly decided that they would als ..read more

Current basketball superstars were asked to describe Michael Jordan with one word. Dwayne Wade said “Champion”, Chris Paul said “Greatness”, and LeBron James said “G.O.A.T”, which stands for Greatest of all Time.  You would be hard-pressed to find many educated sports enthusiasts who would disagree with these assessments. The man won an NCAA championship at the University of North Carolina. He won two gold medals for USA Basketball. He won six NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls, earning the NBA Finals MVP six times. He was the NBA MVP five times and was a 14-time NBA all-star. The t ..read more

Elon Musk is a lightning rod for controversy. On one hand, Elon has loyal fans who applaud his ground-breaking innovations and his tireless work ethic. On the other hand, Musk has the unique ability to equally infuriate the political right and the political left. For example, his critics on the right mock him for his proactive stance on climate change, while pundits on the left don’t approve of his stance on free speech. Consequently, some students and educators reading this book might be tempted to skip this chapter because they cannot bring themselves to view Musk as a positive role model. H ..read more

Andrew Whitworth received the NFL’s most coveted award: The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for 2021. This award honors a player’s commitment to philanthropy and community impact, as well as his excellence on the field. All 32 NFL teams nominate one player from their respective team and the NFL selects one winner each year. Last year, Whitworth was selected. Whitworth was finishing in his 16th and final season. In his final game, his team, the Los Angeles Rams, won the Super Bowl. But, what separated Whitworth was his focus on charity. He helps the military, the homeless, hurricane vic ..read more

“You could say, ‘Hey, it’s nothing but a horse race.’  I’m sorry, this horse was an athlete… His heart was well over twice as large as any horse’s heart that we’ve ever seen, which is a fitting metaphor for him.”   When we decided on the most competitive male athlete of all time, Michael Jordan was the obvious choice. When we selected the most competitive female of all time, there was no doubt that Babe Didrikson Zaharias ranked at the top of the list. In fact, every person that we ranked second or third in that category paled in comparison. So, to select a third role model that re ..read more

About a year ago, Michigan played Wisconsin in a men’s basketball game. In the handshake line after the game, the Michigan coach and the Wisconsin coach got into a heated standoff, complete with verbal jarring and physical altercations. It made big headlines. Later that week, Coach Tom Izzo, men’s head basketball coach was asked if we should discontinue the handshake line after games to minimize such shinanigans. This is what Coach Izzo said: Your Turn:  Do you agree with Coach Izzo? Why or why not? The post The Importance of the Handshake Line #Class #Respect appeared first on Character ..read more

After finishing a shift for Excel Mining, Michael McGuire raced to the University of Kentucky to join his wife and son at a Kentucky basketball game. Michael did not have time to change out of his uniform and he did not have time to shower. His family didn’t care. They were just happy to see him when he arrived at the game. “It doesn’t matter to him how long he has worked or how hard his day is, he is always there and shows up for our babies,” said his wife, Mollie. “He is the most selfless man ever and always puts his family first!” A few days later, University of Kentucky head coach, John Ca ..read more

In 2019, Dametrius Walker was a sophomore student-athlete at Muskegon High School in Michigan. He had already received 10 scholarship offers to play college football. The future looked bright for the man nicknamed, “Meechie.”  Then, a nagging knee injury brought him to the medical professionals who diagnosed him with Osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer. Meechie began his fight with cancer, which consisted of rounds of chemotherapy, sickness and setbacks.  The biggest setback came in 2020 when doctors amputated his left leg. Meechie is no longer focused on his dreams of playing ..read more