Pat and Emmitt Smith Show Some Heart

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/11/29/sports-rush-emmitt-and-pat-smiths-pitch/

High-profile athletes can help deserving causes in more ways than one. They can use their celebrity status and the platform sports provides to bring attention to a need or to generate revenue for charities. They can also get involved on a personal level contributing time, personal funds, or expertise.

Since his playing days ended, Emmitt Smith and his wife, Pat, have used their Pat and Emmitt Smith Charities organization to assist children in all the above ways. Tuesday night at Dallas’ House of Blues, the Heart of Dallas Fast Pitch event, presented by Lagardère Plus, recognized the Smiths for their work with a Community Excellence Award.

In this video interview, conducted red-carpet style at the event, Pat explains a bit about what their family’s charity does, and Emmitt provides a football player’s perspective. The latter seemed especially relevant since the $15,000 Pat and Emmitt Smith Charities received, as well as monies distributed to half dozen other nonprofits, come in large part from the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl. That college football game, to be contested December 26 at the Cotton Bowl stadium between representatives of the Big 12 and Big Ten conferences, designates money for local causes and the Heart of Dallas Young Professionals organization disburses it annually at this event.

 

You notice Emmitt at the beginning and end of the interview pantomiming his own “pitch,” and the event got its name because six North Texas child-focused nonprofits must make a sales pitch about their missions. A panel of judges divides up available money among the groups, with the best presentations receiving the largest percentages. Tuesday’s finalists, culled from dozens of submissions, were Bryan’s House, Dallas CASA, Jubilee Park and Community Center, Rainbow Days, Rise Adaptive Sports, and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. All received at some funds, and no one took home less than $5,000.

 

During the event, the Smiths had an on-stage discussion with emcee Corby Davidson. The Hardline co-host asked them a little about football and a lot about charities. The subject of Emmitt’s fashion sense came up, too, with Pat labelling his formerly subpar selections as “BP” (“Before Pat”) and Emmitt designating them “BM” (“Before Money”). Mostly, the audience found out about how the couple uses both celebrity status and their laid-back but focused personalities to direct attention and funds toward endeavors they feel improve children’s lives.


Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.



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Thanksgiving - Talking Stuff(ing)

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/11/21/sports-rush-talking-thanksgiving/

The opportunity to help folks in need at Thanksgiving offers the giver certain rewards, like a sense of satisfaction . . . a feeling of community . . . and the opportunity to talk some trash.

A group of tall men and women brought food to Fort Worth’s Sweet Home Baptist Church Saturday - specifically turkeys. In addition to helping needy families, the birds provided the group an opportunity to call each other “jive turkeys” and instruct recipients to pull up near the group of “two-legged turkeys.” “Turkey” is such a versatile word.

The donors represented the local chapter of the National Basketball Retired Players Association, so they had some expertise in talking noise. It was all in good fun, and, in fact, as you’ll find out in this post’s featured interview with former Maverick Morlon Wiley, some of the kids at the event talked a little smack of their own to the oldsters.

In fact, former Clipper Steffond Johnson, with an assist from our videographer Dave French, secured the church’s basket standard in place so the children would have a regulation hoop at which to shoot. And these retired NBA, ABA, and WNBA players handed out a lot of turkeys, too. In addition to the NBRPA’s own contributions, sponsors Whole Foods Market, Ben E. Keith Beverages, the Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church of Ft. Worth and Stop the Violence, Inc. chipped in donations, both cash and in-kind.

Fort Worth’s mayor, Betsy Price, who has known NBRPA chapter president Willie Davis for decades, made an appearance in support of their efforts. Other former players in attendance included Micheal Williams, Genai Walker-Macklin, Sam Perkins, Cincy Powell, and Eugene Kennedy.

NBRPA gatherings regularly include a bit of trash talk, but luckily they also frequently include charitable outreach. Saturday, Fort Worth absorbed both with a smile.


Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.

RushOlson.com
Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports
Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports

Female-Friendly Firearms

This post originally appeared in the Blotch section of the Fort Worth Weekly's website. To consume it there : https://www.fwweekly.com/2017/11/14/sports-rush-female-friendly-fire/


Jeanie Almond shoots a gun well enough to have competed at this country’s top levels of competition. She’s also a mom, a grandmother, and runs a new shooting range near Texas Motor Speedway. Almond teaches all kinds of students, but especially loves educating women on how to use firearms for self-defense, for fun, and for sport. Oh, and she owns a big pink truck.

In this video interview done at one of her clinics at 505 Ranch in Mabank, we discussed her passion for what she calls Lipstick and Lead, a program created to introduce women to shooting sports. She trains women in self-defense, and many transition to competition shooting as well. Her decades of instruction have given Almond insight into how to teach female shooters – we find out about why she  might show them different techniques than she would a male student.




Rush Olson has spent two decades directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently creates ad campaigns, television programs, and related creative projects for sports entities through Rush Olson Creative & Sports, Mint Farm Films, and FourNine Productions.

RushOlson.com
Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports
Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports