Imagine a political conference with all the great leaders of the world. Now imagine that very same gathering with a selection of record-setting athletes and Hall of Famers. Where politics has the G8 summit, sports has the Harold Pump Foundation Dinner.
The 11th star-studded event took place in Century City, California, last week and featured the very demographic, along with stars of entertainment, the world of business, and politics. Going into this year, twins Dana and David Pump have raised $4.6 million to help fight cancer, the disease to which their father lost his fight in 1999. Each year, they honor inspirational people and their accomplishments.
This year was no different as Marcus Allen, Jerry West, and Oscar de la Hoya received Lifetime Achievement Awards, along with current Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn.
Being on the red carpet and interacting with these all-time greats is a fun and educational experience. Just getting to take a moment to slip inside the minds of these legends and see what makes them tick. Plus, you never know who is going to show up at this particular gala.
Larry, in Los Angeles, you're on with Wasif's World, hello."
Larry King, ambles down, suspenders and all, with his wife, Shawn. He's been almost as visible in retirement as he was when he was hosting CNN's "Larry King Live."
What has he been up to? "I do Conan a lot," says Larry, leading his wife to chime in, "Are you kidding me?!" She's turns to her husband, with the mind of a public relations rep, "What are getting ready to do?" Then she turns back to me. "He's getting ready to make a huge announcement. He's been very busy."
Larry then adds the outlet that may be involved before his wife scolds him not to reveal anything. I promise to keep it in the vault and simply clarify, "You're getting ready to not be as ...leisurely?"
"Correct," he says succinctly. So we can expect more from him soon.
Seeing talk's elder statesman is impressive, but nothing compared to a sighting of former president of Mexico Vicente Fox y Marta, su esposa hermosa. Señor Presidente, you are connected with the Foundation?
"I'll be supporting and coming anytime Double D, Dana and David, call me and they will be coming to Mexico," Fox says. "We're also developing this kind of programs in Mexico for the Fox Center of Studies, which is the presidential library of which I am president."
From news to politics to entertainment, we see 30-year show biz vet Alfonso Ribiero. Best known as Carlton Banks on "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," now you can see him as host of GSN's "Catch-21" and he currently directs episodes of TBS's "Are We There Yet?"
He has a little athlete in him as well: "I played a lot of baseball as a kid. I loved the sport. I was too short for basketball. And football was a little rough for me. For me now, golf is really my sport. I'm a 2-handicap; it's one of those things that I can kind of get it done."
But it's the professional athletes that mainly draw the fans hovering around the carpet. Ozzie Smith is the first. You almost expect him to do a backflip as if leading the other guests out of the dugout.
There have been better shortstops, but no one more unique. "I wasn't blessed with size and stuff," the Wizard of Oz begins, "but the things that I was blessed with, I never took for granted. I continued to work hard and strive to be the very best that I could be over a nineteen-year period that allowed me to stand here and say I made it to the Hall of Fame."
Oh, great and powerful Wizard, why have you honored us with your presence here this evening?
"They need you to use your name to bring awareness to certain causes," says the current educational ambassador to the Baseball Hall of Fame. "I feel very fortunate that I get the opportunity to walk the red carpet and things like that."
Gale Sayers mirrors the sentiment on how he can continue to use his celebrity for good: "I had the funds to go out there and give some money to charities and people who play athletics, many of them have the funds to do that as well." He says he tries to spend as much time as he can with his charity, the Gale Sayers Foundation that helps underprivileged kids. "And my wife has more charities that I spend time with."
The string of memorable retired players doesn't slow up from there. One-of-a-kind NBA player Jamaal Wilkes came next. How did he come up with that unorthodox shot? "My start and ending were very fundamental. I don't really know how I started shooting that way. I didn't realize I was shooting any different until I got to college."
And why stick with it? "Survival. It was a technique to survive. Playing as a young boy with older men."
He certainly wasn't the only retired hoopster. Recent eulogizing of Shaq upon his retirement frequently referred to him as the most athletic center to ever play the game. Those people seem to be forgetting about Ralph Sampson. He's one of only two players to ever win the Naismith Award three consecutive times as the nation's best college player. [Who is the other? Answer below.] Talking to Ralph is like watching a movie from the front row of the movie theatre.
Ralph responds to that particular praise for Shaq with a smile. "Take a look at the video tapes. Look at Sports Illustrated. How many covers did it say, 'He can dribble, he can shoot, he can bring the ball up the court'?"
At 51, could the former Houston Rocket star still dribble and shoot and take the ball up the court? "If I was in great shape, I could probably do it about ten minutes a game. I'd have to be in awesome shape, though." He moves on, giving my neck and posture a chance to readjust.
Perhaps new head coach Brian Shaw would take a chance on him. Shaw says he's just happy "being reacquainted with my old teammate Larry Bird, now that I'm heading to Indiana. Indiana's a hot bed of basketball; the fans are very knowledgeable of the game there. So I'm looking forward to it."
With the NBA the latest professional league to endure a lockout, when that day will come is anyone's guess. Mike Dunleavy has some thoughts about it. "It'll probably get to about September before anyone does anything in real earnest. Maybe there'll be a surprise."
So when the NBA does reconvene, what does the talented hyphenate – coach/general manager/broadcaster – see in his future? "Y'know, it depends. I'm interested in all of the above. Right now, I'm getting ready to coach the USA Team, a high school team, the Adidas nations, a team where they bring in high school kids all over the world to play in LA, so I'm looking forward to that. It should be a lot of fun."
There's a wave of celebrities on the carpet at this point. I'm busy talking to some and miss out on others. Eddie Murray, Jeremy Piven and Mike Tyson, for instance, walk by. "Iron Mike" is accompanied by Jim Gray. I'm not sure of the connection, though I wonder if this is by design as Pete Rose makes his way down the carpet a few minutes later.
In a tweet to Sports Illustrated writer Phil Taylor, he responded, "Gray's lucky. Even at 70, I think Pete could crush him."
Speaking of Pete Rose, his name comes up in a conversation with Hall of Fame relief pitcher Rollie Fingers. I ask him to talk about the time he was asked to shave his moustache.
"It was Cincinnati in 1986. Pete Rose asked me to come to spring training and I said fine. I talked to the general manager who welcomed me to come to spring training. He said, 'There's only one thing you have to do, shave your moustache.' I said now what difference does it make? He said, 'Well that's our rule.' I told the general manager to tell Marge Schott to shave her Saint Bernard and I'd shave my moustache. So I quit." Rollie shrugs, "At that point, I'd had it for 17 years. I wasn't going to shave it off for her, so I just decided to stop playing ball."
Yes, youngsters, before "Fear the Beard," there was "wax the 'stache." (At least, there should have been in deference to the handlebar masterpiece.) And Fingers still has the best piece of facial furniture out there, though El Presidente Fox sported an impressive one as well.
Throughout the evening, you notice that the fans aren't the only ones who are clamoring to speak with the athletes. Other athletes admire them as well, such as Wilkes talking to Celtics and Lakers legend Bill Sharman. There is a mutual respect.
One of the evening's honorees, Marcus Allen, summed it up nicely. "To grow up, to have ambition and to admire guys, then to meet those guys, to become friends with those guys – all the guys that walk the red carpet, you know personally – and have those guys be the fabric of your success regardless of what sport they play, that's an amazing thing."
Then he smiles and gets a glint in his eyes as he says, "But at the risk of sounding crazy, I knew it was going to happen though."
Julius Erving, Dr. J to many, agrees. "We're here on the red carpet; some people are treating us differently than if we're on the other side. You need to go on the other side to have some sanity."
I offer to switch places with him. "Yeah, I could start asking you the questions," he says.
Without following through on that, he continues, "Y'know the celebrity hat is sort of a byproduct of whatever I was able to do on the basketball court and maybe what I'm able to do to inspire other people. But more importantly is to have meaningful relationships and to have a meaningful mission in life. I want to be the best person that I can possibly be." Spoken like a true non-medical doctor. He then commiserates with his friend, former NBA star Marques Johnson.
Recent addition to the NFL Hall of Fame Marshall Faulk stands at the end of the carpet waiting to talk to Jim Brown. After a brief discussion and some photographs, Jim turns to a fellow Syracuse Orangeman, though one with considerably fewer varsity letters than the former lacrosse, football, and track star. Of course, we talk acting as he had an even more prolific Hollywood career than he did as an athlete.
"Acting is a wonderful profession, it's an art and if you get into it, you can truly enjoy it. It's totally different than sports. In acting, you have a director, a cutting room, and a cutting room floor. Your best scenes can be cut out of the movie. But I enjoyed acting because I had a chance to be exposed to a lot of great actors. Al Pacino was a wonderful teacher and friend so I'm just happy to enjoy all of these things."
Jim left the gridiron for a new career, opening himself up to a new set of fans. Jerry Rice, of "Dancing with the Stars" fame, has just realized that for himself. Regarding the reality show, he says, "It gave me a chance to reach a whole new demographic of people and it's like, people might not know me from football, but they know me from the show."
Just don't remind the ultra-competitive all-time great that he came in second place. He bristles, "Well thank you so much for reminding me of that bad memory and I get this all the time from Nick Lachey. He rubs it in my face, now you're doing the same thing. But that's okay." (It's not every day, I am compared to the former 98 degrees member.) Jerry smiles to show me he's okay with it. Knowing him, he's going to work harder and win a dance off in the future.
Author Ingrid Katal describes to me how we can take our own goals and dreams to the next level by discussing her book, "What is Your Honor Code: The Missing Link to Managing Your Mind." She says, "I believe that we need to have policies and boundaries for ourselves and anyone else in our lives. There isn't any reason to get angry, frustrated, or stressed out and we actually let in a lot more stuff that doesn't need to be added in."
This motivational advice could help us learn some of the habits that brings success to these athletes, such as Los Angeles Sparks forward Candace Parker, who explains her practice. "I try to add 25 percent each year, try to add something new to my game each year."
To her, it's not just about scoring. "It's getting your teammates involved, knocking down your free throws -– what percentage are you shooting from the three-point line? -– things like that, that aren't necessarily evident on the stat sheet, but they're proving that you're improving your game."
And Rosey Grier, former formidable Fearsome Foursome lineman of the Los Angeles Rams, now a minister, preaches that we all have to play our role, to fulfill our missions since we're only around for a short time.
Their involvement is best summed up in Marcus Allen's acceptance speech later that night. He said, "We are rich by what we give and poor by what we keep."
And though the undertones were serious, the festivities were hosted by comedian Cedric the Entertainer. However, he was not the funniest one there. That distinction went to former Dodger skipper (and "Dugout Wizard" to fans of the 80's tv show "The Baseball Bunch"), Tommy Lasorda. Alluding to the length of the ceremony, when it became his turn to speak, he said, "I'm glad I got up here. I thought I was going to miss tomorrow night's game. I want to congratulate all of you for sticking around. It takes a lot of heart."
All in all, it was a great night for a great cause. No, Bill Walton, the only other person to ever collect three consecutive Naismith trophies, was not there, but Magic Johnson was, among still more legends. To find out more about the cause and the event, check out the website of the Harold Pump Foundation. Maybe you can join in the fight and inspire others like these athletes inspire you.
