As we here at 1590 WAKR continue to celebrate Black History Month, we caught up with one of our community's most influential athletes, Akron native Butch Reynolds, who is doing some fantastic things in the community, both in Akron and Columbus.
He talked with Sam and Brad Wednesday about the importance of giving back to the community and how it all starts with our youths.
A graduate of Archbishop Hoban High School here in town, Reynolds is currently a coach of track and field at Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, and is involved in various community initiatives, including the Butch Reynolds Care For Kids Foundation.
He represented the United States in track and field in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where he picked up a gold medal in the 4x400 relay and a silver in the 400 meters.
For the full interview, click here.
February as you know is Black History Month, and the Cleveland Browns put a special program on for the student athletes from inner-city Cleveland at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Former Browns wideout Steve Sanders joined the Sam Bourquin Show to talk about being one of the panelists at the event, and what it means for him to give back to the community and touch people's lives.
Sanders said he was excited to be a part of that special group.
"It was a great time at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it's just an iconic place, so they toured for about 45 minutes, they listened to us for about an hour, and we were able to give them our knowledge and talk to them about sportsmanship and leadership," he said. "It was an outstanding afternoon."
He was joined by former Browns Greg Pruitt and Felix Wright on Thursday afternoon.
Sanders recalled playing for coach Urban Meyer while at Bowling Green, and he said that he picked up a lot from Coach Meyer, including being a better person away from the playing field.
I got a chance to share that with the audience yesterday, and I could just see their faces light up when I mentioned Urban Meyer, and I told the kids it was his mission to make everyone on that team (at Bowling Green) better in life."
Sanders played with the Browns from 2006-2008. After football, Steve's authored a book as well as traveling around the country speaking with various coaches and athletes about personal development.
In addition, he's also done some analyst work with WKYC-Channel 3 in Cleveland, talking about the Browns.