Author Archives: Sports Spectrum

From the Archives — The Little Guard That Could

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Reading the children’s classic The Little Engine That Could might be the easiest way to understand what Avery Johnson has gone through to make it in the NBA.

Like the little blue engine from Watty Piper’s story, Johnson is an inspiration. Like the little blue engine, Johnson is much smaller than his counterparts. Like the little blue engine, Johnson has had to persevere. And like the little blue engine, Johnson’s goal is to climb a mountain.

I think I can – I think I can – I think I can – I think I can.

When you look at Avery Johnson, you see a sophisticated, articulate individual. A man who has things in focus. A man with the highest degree of professionalism. What you don’t see is the journey that brought him to this point.

Click here to read the rest of our story on Avery Johnson from our November 1993 issue.

From the Archives — Giant Ambassador

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Dikembe Mutombo is a giant among men.

At 7 feet 2 inches, the former Houston Rockets center towered above a majority of other players in the NBA. Regarded as one of the most prolific defensive players of all time, Mutombo has won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times, and in 2007 he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the second most prolific shot blocker in NBA history, behind Hakeem Olajuwon.

Where the basketball superstar stands out most, however, is in the area of philanthropy. Called the “NBA’s tallest humanitarian” by the New York Daily News, Mutombo has a heart as big as he is tall; a heart that reaches across the Atlantic Ocean to his homeland of Africa, the poorest continent in the world.

The impetus behind Mutombo’s compassionate and giving soul is twofold. First, he is a follower of Jesus Christ and respectively adheres to the Bible’s mandate to care for the needy. Second, though Mutombo is now a wealthy former pro athlete, he hasn’t forgotten what it is like to be poor.

“I was born and raised in Africa,” said Mutombo, who hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “When you are born in a country plagued by poverty, wherever you go in your life, you always remember where you came from.”

The fact that Mutombo, born June 25, 1966, has not let his new life in America eclipse his concern for the hurting in Africa is just one more characteristic that sets the gentle giant apart from many other professional athletes.

One of Mutombo’s most recent steps to give the poor in Africa “a hand up” was his joining the Opportunity International Board of Advisors. Opportunity International is a Christian organization committed to solving global poverty. Serving more than one million poor entrepreneurs in 28 developing countries, the microcredit organization provides small loans – sometimes as little as $50 – and other services that allow poor entrepreneurs to start or expand a business, develop a steady income, provide for their families, and create jobs for their neighbors.

Of Mutombo’s participation in the organization, Opportunity International President and CEO Christopher Crane, said, “What you quickly learn about Dikembe Mutombo is that he is not a sports celebrity doing a little charity work. This is a man of deep commitment to the poor who puts his own time, energy, and significant amounts of money into projects like his hospital.

“He influences others in a position to make a difference, whether they are NBA players donating time and money or doctors and government leaders contributing their talents to serve the poor, who have been underserved for so long. Dikembe Mutombo is the very definition of a philanthropist.”

In 2007, Mutombo invited Opportunity International executives to the dedication of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center, named for his late mother. It is the first major healthcare facility dedicated to providing the finest medical services to the poor in the DRC.

While there, Mutombo introduced Opportunity International to key government ministers to discuss the organization’s plans to provide microfinance services including loans, savings, and insurance for the poor. He also met with DRC President Joseph Kabila to further accelerate Opportunity International’s timetable for entering the country.

“The only way we are going to eradicate poverty,” Mutombo said, “is for each one of us to do his part. Opportunity International and its people working in Africa are a solution to breaking the cycle of poverty by providing financial services to the poorest of the working poor. I am excited for them to build a bank near my hospital in Kinshasa.”

In September 2007, while on a goodwill tour for the NBA, Mutombo visited Mozambique, where Opportunity International is already serving the poor. He toured the bank and visited loan and savings clients in marketplaces in the capital city of Maputo.

“I used to work in a market like this as a child for my father’s small business. I sold bread and cheese and sausage,” Mutombo explained. “My father woke me up every day at 5:30 a.m. and I worked until it was time to go to school at 8 a.m. It was how I earned money for my education. My father was poor.”

Mutombo created an immediate stir entering the market, as would any person who is as tall as he is, dressed impeccably in a suit and tie.

“I always dress this way in public,” he explained.

Soon hundreds of men, women, and children were following him as he stopped to talk with Opportunity International clients selling food and household goods in the market stalls.

Not everyone recognized him as an NBA player.

“Is he a giant?” one woman was overheard asking. Her friend immediately responded, “Of course he is, silly!”

“Bom dia, my sister, bom dia, my brother,” he greeted the entrepreneurs in what little Portuguese he knows. It is not one of nine languages he speaks.

At one business that sells shoes, the proprietor, a woman named Rosita, tried to find a pair of basketball shoes to fit him.

“Rosita, I need size 22!” he exclaimed, holding up his foot. While she did find a large pair of Nikes, which is his basketball shoe sponsor, they were at least six sizes too small.

While spending the day in the marketplace, Mutombo asked many questions of the entrepreneurs served by Opportunity International.

“What they all tell me is that the first thing they do when they get a loan and expand their business is buy better food that is more nutritious for their children. And they use the extra money they earn to keep their children in school,” he said.

At the end of his Mozambique visit, Mutombo said, “I believe we are all created equal in God’s eyes and that the gospel teaches us to find a way to serve humanity. This is what Opportunity International and I are doing, and we hope that many others will join us.”

Mutombo is elated that an increasing number of individuals and ministries are demonstrating concern and action on behalf of the citizens of Africa.

In recent days, largely as a result of advocates such as Mutombo, musician Bono, and other celebrities, Africa has attracted a growing interest and support base. But there are still massive needs facing the African continent and its people. Just one season away from retiring from the NBA, Mutombo had only scratched the surface of what he hoped to help accomplish on behalf of his homeland.

It is no wonder, then, that Mutombo has earned multiple awards for his unceasing efforts. The husband and father of six children (four of who were adopted) received the NBA’s humanitarian award in 2001. The Sporting News named him as one of the “Good Guys in Sports” in 1999 and 2000. In 1999, Mutombo was also elected as one of 20 winners of the President’s Service Awards, the nation’s highest honor for volunteer service.

Perhaps one of Mutombo’s greatest honors, however, came in 2007 when he was added to the prestigious guest list for President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address. In front of the United States’ greatest political and social leaders, and before a television audience of millions, Mutombo was referred to by the President as “a son of the Congo.”

It is certain that Mutombo would say he could receive no greater compliment than to be recognized for his lifelong devotion to his homeland and to God.

But it is his love for others, not the awards, that has kept and will keep him serving the poor with excellence in all that he sets his giant heart to do.

By Roxanne Robbins

Roxanne Robbins is a freelance writer for Sports Spectrum magazine. This story was published in Sports Spectrum’s Silver Anniversary Edition, Celebrating 25 Years of Sports and Faith. Order the book here.

Real Vision

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Leading up to this story, I have enjoyed watching the perplexed look on people’s faces after sharing my latest subject matter with them. Most recently, I nonchalantly told my doctor, while he was busy writing down notes, that I was writing a story about a blind surfer. He continued writing for a few seconds before dropping his pen, looking up quizzically, and asked, “Wait. What? He surfs blind? How is that even possible?”

Ah, yes. The question that everyone who hears about Derek Rabelo eventually ends up asking.

Consider how difficult a feat this is. The playing field for a surfer is constantly changing as it shifts along the different bottom contours of the ocean. Three-time World Champion Tom Curren mused about what it must be like. He says he could possibly imagine a blind person surfing who had surfed before losing his or her sight. “But,” he admitted, “to actually be blind from the start—that’s what I’m totally baffled by.”

In fact, when I first heard about Rabelo, I couldn’t even envision him doing what I define as “real” surfing. Instead, I thought he was probably just jumping up on his surfboard in the white wash near the shore and merely going straight. But when I finally saw the YouTube video for myself, I was flat-out shocked.  Rabelo was not only descending down the face of some good size swells, but actually turning off the bottom of the wave and positioning the board so he could continue to follow the line of the break.

When I ran into Derek on his visit to San Diego, Calif., his story continued to intrigue me as I learned more about his incredible journey.

Nineteen years ago in Guarapi, Brazil, Rabelo’s father had aspirations that one day he would have a son who would become a professional surfer. In anticipation of this dream, he had already named his soon-to-be son after famous Hawaiian surfer Derek Ho.  Unfortunately the child was born blind, leaving the Rabelo clan crushed. Surely there would be no days of sharing surfing with his son, let alone a professional career.

But as he grew up on the sands of his local beach, Rabelo listened to his relatives and friends share their excitement after catching incredible waves. He began to picture in his mind what it must be like to surf. When he finally shared his desire to try it at the age of sixteen, his family didn’t discount him, but encouraged him to go for it. Heeding their advice that he would need to be physically equipped, he began working out intensely and practicing Jujitsu in preparation of the surf. A few months later and with history in the making, news cameras from all over Brazil came to verify the story that a blind boy was indeed surfing.

The story would be amazing enough if it had ended right there on this tiny coastal town in Brazil. Even though Rabelo had already captured the imagination of so many in his native land, his exploits in the ocean only served to further fuel his own dreams of what was possible. With only two years of surfing experience, he now wanted to challenge arguably the world’s most dangerous wave: The infamous Banzai Pipeline.

So in February 2012, he set out for the North Shore of Hawaii, a place where surfers have broken their necks and given their lives in pursuit of the most intense adrenaline rushes the planet has to offer. Paddling out into the hectic surf with a couple of friends, his first attempt was hugely disappointing.  The immense crowd, largely oblivious to Rabelo’s condition, did not allow him to catch a single wave.

But Rabelo hadn’t traveled half way around the world to cave in and give up his dream. Meeting some friends at a local church, he acquired the help of some of the Pipeline locals such as pro surfer Makua Rothman to clear a path for him out in the lineup. The next day, the upper echelon of the surfing world witnessed a blind person, not only make steep drops over the sharp reef, but turn up into the pocket and come close to getting in the barrel. The locals here at Pipeline don’t easily impress, but Rabelo’s performance left everyone astonished.  Rothman, who himself has tackled 50-foot plus surf, was utterly slack-jawed, exclaiming, “I was tripping out because I never told him where the white wash was coming and he ducked dived the waves with perfect timing. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’  This guy is my new hero! Unbelievable.”

With observers on the beach blown away by what they had seen, Derek Rabelo offered up a giant smile before finally giving us the answer as to how he does it: “Faith to me is to believe that the impossible for man is possible with God.”

It was this provocative yet child-like faith that grabbed the attention of former pro surfer and filmmaker Bryan Jennings. (If the name sounds familiar, Jennings created a documentary about Bethany Hamilton that led to the feature film Soul Surfer.) Jennings knew Rabelo’s story had to be told and is currently producing a documentary called Beyond Sight. During a recent filming, Jennings suggested to Derek that they could go attempt to surf the 60-80 foot mountainous waves of the famous break Jaws in Maui. “I was kidding, but he got all excited and said, ‘Yeah.’ Jennings recalled and laughed.  This guy is nuts. He has zero fear.”

While his passion for surfing is obvious, Rabelo got just as enthusiastic when I brought up the subject of God. As he started sharing more about his faith, I posed the question of how he knows that God is real. “I can just feel God blessing my life and I know that He empowers me to do everything that I do.”

Asked what he hopes people will ultimately gain from knowing about his story, he paused before answering. “I hope to motivate others to accomplish their dreams, but what I would really like was for everyone to get to know the Lord Jesus because this is the most important thing in life. He is our salvation.”

Watching Rabelo live out what he believes causes me to reflect on more than a few great spiritual truths. I am reminded that God is immeasurably bigger than our problems and that He truly can do more than we ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Hearing a story like his also demonstrates that what may seem like a tragedy at first can turn out to be a blessing in disguise (Romans  8:28).

And as I stand on the beach and witness a blind young man paddle unassisted into the ocean, I smile, suddenly aware that Derek Rabelo doesn’t lack vision after all.

By Billy Barnard

Billy Barnard is a freelance writer for Sports Spectrum magazine.

Using the Force

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Watching Frankie “The Freight Train” Filippone fighting in the ring or protecting the streets of Virginia Beach can be an intimidating sight. Those who know the real Frank Filippone Jr., know that under his tough exterior is a heart of gold. He never misses a chance to use both his boxing and his badge for all the good he can.

The 33-year-old Chesapeake, Va., resident has been a police officer for 10 years and boxing professionally for five. He lives his life by two constants.

“My motto as a boxer is ‘keep punching,’” he says. “No matter what, I keep fighting. And my motto as a police officer is ‘Try to save a life before you take a life.’”

Filippone is all about saving lives. He wants to make a difference in the lives of the teenagers who find themselves in the back of his police car. He wants to see them living meaningful lives instead of wasting away in prison.

“Being both a boxer and policeman allows me to break through some barriers,” says Filippone. “The kids on the street look at the police force as the enemy. But they can relate to my boxing. With boxing they see an accomplishment they respect.”

In February of this year, Filippone’s name became a little better known in the boxing world when he stepped in as a last-minute participant for the injured Dennis Hasson. He won the North American Boxing Association (NABA) Light Heavyweight title by a 10-round decision in Wilmington, Del. It was the biggest win in the southpaw’s career so far.

He makes the most of every opportunity, so when he was asked to take the fight on with less than a week’s notice, Filippone didn’t hesitate.

“When they called us on a Sunday about fighting Friday, I told my boxing trainer, Kenny Miller, ‘I’ve been waiting for this for 15 years, let’s go for it!’” Filippone says, his face lighting up. “I was in shape, but there’s a difference between being ‘in shape’ and ‘in fight shape.’ So we trained really hard for three days, then went up to Wilmington.”

He notes that he tries to eat healthy for the most part, but likes to follow a very strict diet at least two weeks prior to a big fight.

“I try to stick to chicken breast, sweet potato and vegetable suppers,” he says, “and I’ll just drink water, cut down on sodium. Breakfast is old fashioned, steel-cut oats with milk, and blueberries or maybe some honey for sweetening. You can’t cheat yourself, you have to treat yourself!”

He credits his personal trainer, Craig Hamilton, for helping to keep him in shape physically, mentally and spiritually.

“Craig is a very strong Christian,” says Filippone. “I am grateful to him for devoting his time and advice to me.”

His Foundation

The support of good Christians is priceless to Filippone. Raised in a Catholic home, Filippone was saved at the age of 18 through the witness of some Christian friends he met after moving to Lexington, Ky., to work in a mattress factory for a few years.

“Then when I moved back to Virginia in 2001, I met my future wife Rachel,” he remembers. “She and her mom are amazing Christians. They helped me work out some things. I knew the right things to do but wasn’t really following it through. We were married in 2005. A few years later we started attending River Oak Church and I was baptized there in 2009. I had gone to other churches, but when I came out of that water it was a new beginning. Just being there with my pastor and other fellow Christians who were so welcoming, that changed my outlook. I fell in love with my church.”

He’s not only a strong Christian; Filippone’s also a great dad. When he had to go to Wilmington for the big fight, Rachel remained at home in Virginia because they have two children, who at the time each had a birthday that needed to be celebrated. Even though he had an important fight to focus on, he took time out on each special day to join in their celebrations.

“Our daughter, Avery, turned 5 on February 7th and our son Drew turned 2 on the 8th!” Filippone smiles. “So I put on my party hat and blew my noisemaker in my hotel room, and hung out with the kids on FaceTime.”

His Heart

He has a heart for other kids, too; the ones he picks up off the street.

“I’m just trying to be a light in a world that has a dark side,” he says. “Just the other day we met a teenage kid newly-diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. His prognosis is a wheelchair in two years, and he was giving up. He was going the wrong way with his life. He was angry because he used to be like any other guy and now he’s losing control of movement, can’t do things like he used to.”

Filippone frowns and looks down at his hands, deeply touched.

“When we first approached him he wasn’t nice at all,” he then smiles at the understatement. “But in the car I gave him my story and you could see his demeanor change.”

Even though it was almost 20 years ago, Filippone remembers all too clearly what the backseat of a police car looks like. Although his mom did the best she could, his dad was in the Navy so a father’s firm hand wasn’t always present in their home.

“I ran with the wrong crowd,” he remembers. “I was a follower instead of a leader and there were times I didn’t care what happened to me. I got involved in underage drinking. Thankfully, a gang unit police detective named Randy Crank changed my life by being there for me.”

Crank had been cracking down on any kids hanging out in large groups, and he kept tabs on young Filippone, along with probation officer Kevin Freeman.

“Sometimes it wasn’t very nice,” Filippone states, “but those guys played small parts in my life that made a big impact. I couldn’t have been a police officer if I continued on the path I was going on. And where I’ve been and come out of makes me a better police officer.”

Instead of treating the police force as just a job, Filippone takes the time to listen and help those who need help, like a local teenager with Muscular Dystrophy.

“I told him his life wasn’t all over,” he says. “It’s now up to him what he does with his disability. “I said, ‘If you let it consume you it will; you need to have power over it. You can show other people this isn’t going to stop you.’ Since I reached out to him, instead of staying hardened he started crying. He just wanted someone to listen to him. A couple of weeks later I saw his mom and she said he’s going to school every day, and listening to her for a change. It’s up to us to keep that going, so he doesn’t fall back into the street mentality. I know God put him in my path for a reason.”

Besides taking the time for hurting teenagers, Filippone finds time to use his boxing title to fundraise for worthy causes.

“People ask me how I make time for everything,” he says. “My only answer is there are not enough hours in the day, but you push through and God makes it work. This is my heart, to help others. A friend of mine knows a 3-year-old girl named Cameron, who has leukemia. He asked me to help, so I contacted our local Chick-fil-A. We did a Spirit Night with raffle tickets and raised $700 for her. A lot of great businesses gave us great prizes to raffle off. I had never met Cameron, but there was no question that I was going to do what I could. I had many things going on, but God made the days seem longer so things just fell into place. Everything went smoothly.”

His Future

Filippone has big plans for his boxing career, and he wants to give back however he can. Last October his team raised money to help fight breast cancer and plan to make an annual tradition out of raising funds to fight this deadly disease.

“Keadra Young is a good friend of mine, I call her my ‘public relations manager,’” he smiles. “Some of her friends and family had had breast cancer, and I just wanted to fight for people like them who couldn’t fight back. The numbers dealing with it are alarming.”

The wife of one of his friend’s wife was also affected by breast cancer and opted to have her breast removed.

“That hurt me, that women have to go through this serious procedure just to give themselves a fighting chance,” Filippone says. “Any form of cancer is a debilitating disease, and we want to do everything we can to help educate people and eradicate cancer altogether. We had pink t-shirts made up that said ‘Fight like a Girl’ on the front and ‘Team Freight Train’ on the back. To look out in the crowd before a fight and see people with my t-shirt on was awesome.”

On fight days Filippone normally only comes out of his room for breakfast and lunch and that’s it, but something else brought him out the morning of February 8th—the day of his title match in Delaware.

“We heard that Wilmington’s police officer Justin Wilkers had tragically been shot in the face the Sunday before,” he says. “So we went to see him in the hospital, gave him some boxing gloves, met his family that morning of the fight. I promised him I would bring the belt home, and I think that was my edge. I felt I was fighting for Justin.”

“Frankie’s a winner inside the ring and outside the ring,” his trainer Kenny Miller adds. “When he visited that fellow officer in Wilmington, that broke our training pattern, particularly for a championship fight. But it was important to him.”

To open the evening event, a ceremony to honor Delaware police officers who were killed in the line of duty took place. With more than 60 policemen in the crowd watching, Filippone beat Kevin Engel, who at 6’2” was 4 inches taller than he.

“A lot of people in boxing emphasize height and reach,” he shrugs. “But I just look at it that I’ve trained hard, and if he’s trained hard it’s gonna be one heck of a fight.”

It was ‘a heck of a fight,’ and Filippone looks forward to at least five more years of fighting in the ring, and even more years fighting against crime, helping fight against cancer, and fighting for teenagers to have hope.

By Jayne Thurber-Smith

Jayne Thurber-Smith is a freelance writer for Sports Spectrum magazine.

Introducing Our April 2013, All-Duck Dynasty DigiMag!

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Our newest DigiMag is now available for viewing! Our April 2013, All-Duck Dynasty DigiMag features 24 PAGES of exclusive Duck Dynasty content, including 11 video interviews with America’s favorite family, the Robertsons. If you like Duck Dynasty, you’ll love this issue; if you’ve never seen Duck Dynasty, we promise you’ll become a fan after flipping through our magazine. Click HERE to view the issue on your computer, iPad, tablet, iPhone or Android.

Read. Interact. And enjoy.

From the Archives — The Power Forward Is On

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In only his fourth NBA season, A.C. Green has become the Los Angeles Lakers’ leading rebounder. Although small for a power forward, A.C. is an iron man in the lane. He has endured on some of the toughest turf in sports, appearing in every regular season contest but three during his first three campaigns. A.C. (whose initials stand for the letters A and C) talks with Kyle Rote Jr. about crashing the boards with the big boys.

KYLE: Let’s talk about the toughness of the game itself. A lot of people have believed for many years that playing basketball in the NBA is physically the toughest of any of the professional sports.

A.C.: That’s true in that it’s really demanding on your body. And it’s pretty obvious to anyone who might watch. They get to see the banging and the bumping that goes on. You’re setting screens, and you get little guards trying to muscle you for the position, and then you get big guys trying to muscle you for position. It’s really tough in that sense.

After nearly every game I go home with some little souvenir here or there that I didn’t have before the game started. (Laughing) It’s very seldom that I don’t leave the court or the gym feeling a little sore from the physical contact…

Read the rest of the story here.

From the Archives — The Mize Guys: Chipping In From the Rough

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Imagine having a job in which you get paid only if you do better than most of your fellow workers. And some weeks when you show up for work, your superiors make you try out just to see if you can even work that week. That’s something like the high-pressure world of the professional golfers tour, where nothing is given to you free and the rewards are there only for those who can persevere. Kyle Rote Jr. Talks with PGA golfer Larry Mize to find out how he survives on tour…

Mize won the Masters in 1987, when he chipped in from off the green at the 11th hole at Augusta in a playoff to win his only major title. Click here to read Sports Spectrum’s interview with Mize from its January-February 1991 issue.

Uncommon Challenge