Andre Agassi, soccer's Mia Hamm and cycling legend Lance Armstrong announced this week that they have put together a group of 12 athletes with the goal of changing the world by assembling a dream team of philanthropy. It includes skateboarder Tony Hawk, running back Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, former tennis phenom Andrea Jaeger and Muhammad Ali. Individually these athletes have raised more than $500 million to aid at-risk kids, build schools, help the sick and provide homes and safe places for children to play.
Armstrong says the impact of athletes is undeniable: "The reality is that athletes have a lot of power. We have the ability as entertainers to make an impact on the world ... We want to encourage our fellow athletes to think philanthropically ... and if they don't quite know where to go we can partner them up with someone that needs their help."
I'm happy to see Andrea Jeager included in this. She was once ranked as high as number two in the world and was a finalist at Wimbledon and the French Open but had her career cut short by chronic injuries in 1984. She has spent her career winnings and raised many millions more for a camp for kids with cancer that she has run for nearly two decades.