Warrick Dunn talks charity work, Warrick Dunn foundation and Cowboys-Giants
A. Isaac 
You often hear of athletes giving back to the community—spending a Saturday with some inner-city kids, reading at a local library, donating to a homeless shelter, and so on and so forth. Their good deeds certainly deserve more attention in a world where we often focus on the negative.
There are those athletes, however, who go above and beyond a few hours a weeks, who make it their life goal to do everything they can for those that aren’t as fortunate to be in the same situation. One of those players is former NFL running back Warrick Dunn.
Dunn’s service in the community is amazing and leaves most of his peers speechless. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2006, it was Warrick Dunn who urged his teammates and others in the NFL to donate their game checks. When it was all said and done, the final tally went over $5 million dollars. Truly remarkable.
But he didn’t stop there.
The Warrick Dunn Foundation, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, is responsible for 109 homes in Florida and Georgia for single-parents. Something that’s near and dear to Warrick’s heart as his mom raised him by herself. If you’re not familiar with the story of his mother, it’s both sad and inspiring.
Early in the morning on January 7th, 1993, police corporal Betty Smothers was ambushed at a local bank by armed robbers while escorting a businesswoman making a deposit. Smothers was taken to the hospital but was unable to recover from multiple gunshot wounds. At the time Warrick was an 18-year old high school senior and he immediately became the head of the household, taking care of his little brothers and sisters.
Dunn uses the death of his mother as motivation for his charity work. This coming Sunday, ahead of the Giants-Cowboys game, Warrick Dunn is helping to support Dallas servicemen and women who are overseas for the holidays. In conjunction with Crown Royal’s Heroes Project, they’ll be sending special care packages to them. For every bag that is stuffed and sent, Crown Royal will donate $10 to The Texas Wildfire Relief Fund, a non-profit organization committed to generating awareness and garnering support for Texas volunteer firefighters.
We had a chance to talk to Warrick to ask him about his work in the community. He was very straightforward and to the point when I asked him about he why he seem more involved than some of his peers.
“We’re supposed to be America, we’re supposed to support each other, we’re supposed to love each other, we’re supposed to give back. A lot of this is because of my mom, who was shot in the line of duty. We wanted to fulfill her dream, her dream of owning a house. She never had the chance, so we’re giving single-parents that chance.”
That’s one of the reasons the Crown Royal Heroes Project is so important to me. It’s supporting police officers, fire fighters and military personnel across the country. It speaks volumes about the charity and that’s why we want people to come out to Cowboys Stadium to help and stuff these bags for them.”
We switched gears a little and talked some hot button NFL issues.
On the Cowboys and whether they will suffer from last week’s devastating loss:
“No, because so much is at stake, you have to be professionals, you have to look forward. He’ll (Garrett) have his guys ready.
On who will win the Giants-Cowboys matchup that will essentially decide the NFL East:
“Eli has late game heroics but the Cowboys have been more consistent the last few weeks (despite the clock mismanagement against Arizona), so I’m going with them at home.”
On the Ndamukong Suh issue with personal fouls:
“Great person off the field, I’ve met him. When he’s on the field, he changes, that’s when he has anger management issues, when he’s playing. That’s when guys on the sidelines, the veterans, that’s when they gotta keep him in line.”
On Suh’s recent car accident and whether off-field stuff will continue:
“I don’t think he has character issues. Not a guy you have to think about, week in, week out with that stuff. It was an isolated incident. If he was trying to show off, trying to “hot rod” it in a car…that’s what it seems like. He’s a humble guy and he should be ok.”
On Donovan McNabb and whether the Bears should have picked him up:
“As we get older, we all get past our primes. I’ve dealt with being the older guy, the veteran guy. I haven’t played with Donovan, he’s a great guy off the field, I just don’t know what kind of locker room guy he is. I can’t speak for what the front office is doing, but he’s from that area, so I don’t know.”
On his alma mater, Florida State:
“People believed the hype. We had a very good football team just not a top 5, top 6 team this year. Honestly, I felt we were a year away. You can have great recruiting classes but you gotta go out there and beat people first. We’ve shown a lot of promise, we have a lot of great players, but we are not a consistent or disciplined football team.”
As strong supporters of the U.S. military on Guyism, we urge all of our readers in the Dallas area to head to Cowboys Stadium to support those who fight for our freedom. A freedom, we only enjoy, because of their sacrifice.
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