In 2006, a group of elite athletes who had given their time, energy, and resources to charitable causes began a conversation that led to Athletes for Hope. Boxer Muhammad Ali was among them. They noticed that many of their fellow athletes wanted to make a difference in the world but did not know where to begin. Their answer was a new charity built to remove the barriers to giving back and to bring every nonprofit-inspired athlete together around a common goal. Its founding athletes page profiles seven members, from Muhammad Ali and Mia Hamm to Andre Agassi, Alonzo Mourning, and Jeff Gordon.
Why the elite athletes founded ‘Athletes for Hope’
The idea for Athletes for Hope grew out of a dialogue in 2006 among elite athletes who were already deeply committed to charitable causes, giving generously of their time, energy, and resources. According to the Athletes for Hope Organisation, what they noticed was a gap, plenty of other athletes felt the same pull to make a positive difference in the world, yet had no idea where to start. Instead of leaving that gap in place, the group founded Athletes for Hope with a clear aim. The organisation would eliminate the barriers that keep athletes from giving back and bring every nonprofit-inspired athlete together around one common goal, making a difference in the world.
Muhammad Ali, the boxer whose greatest triumphs came outside the ring
Muhammad Ali leads the list of founding athletes. The organisation describes him as a boxer with an unorthodox fighting style, unprecedented speed, and extraordinary grace, whose charm and wit changed what the public expected of a champion. Yet it says his greatest triumphs came outside the ring, through humanitarian work that perhaps did more than any other athlete’s to make the world a better place. He received the 1997 Arthur Ashe Courage Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. Ali passed away in 2016, and his legacy lives on through the Muhammad Ali Center in his birthplace of Louisville, Kentucky, where children and adults learn and form new commitments to personal growth, integrity, and respect for others.
How Mia Hamm and Warrick Dunn built charities that support families in need
Several founding athletes built their own charities before Athletes for Hope existed. Mia Hamm, who won two Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and two World Cups, started the Mia Hamm Foundation in 1999, two years after her brother Garrett died from complications of a rare blood disorder. It raises funds and awareness for families needing marrow or cord blood transplants and promotes programs for young women in sports. Its all-star exhibition soccer matches bring marrow recipients together with their donors at halftime for the first time. Warrick Dunn, a former running back and Pro Bowl player, founded Homes For The Holidays in 1997, his rookie season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, inspired by his mother Betty’s dream of owning a home. The program provides home furnishings and down-payment assistance to single-parent families.
Andre Agassi, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Alonzo Mourning, and Jeff Gordon focused on young people
The remaining founders on the page share a focus on children and youth. Andre Agassi’s foundation partnered with the Clark County School District in Las Vegas to open the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in 2001, a public charter school whose first graduating class had a 100 per cent college acceptance rate. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a six-time Olympic medalist, created the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center and a foundation that aims to give every young person in her home area the chance to succeed in academics, athletics, and leadership. Alonzo Mourning and his wife, Tracy, have raised more than $25 million through the Mourning Family Foundation, founded in 1997, for youth programs in South Florida, and he delivers turkey dinners to hundreds of families every Thanksgiving. Jeff Gordon’s children’s foundation has granted millions to children’s charities, a commitment that began after his crew chief’s son was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1992.
