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Roy Williams is a Class Act

January 14, 2007 by

He and I have something in common, and it’s not athletic ability or being selected to the NFL Pro Bowl Team, but that we grew up in the same city, one block apart, and went to the same schools, Ross Elementary through Permian High School (but different generations, I don’t know him and have never met him).  Still, he’s a class act:

Permian grad sponsors raffle for Pro Bowl trip

By Chris Gove
Odessa American

Roy Williams got some exciting news this week and apparently wants to share the feeling with many others in his hometown.
The Permian High School graduate, who recently completed his third season as a wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, got official word Friday from the NFL that he has been added to the 2007 NFC Pro Bowl team.
Williams finished the season with an NFC-leading 1,310 receiving yards and 82 receptions and will be making the first Pro Bowl appearance of his career. He was named to replace original selection Torry Holt of the St. Louis Rams, who pulled out with an injury.
The Pro Bowl, which is the NFL’s annual all-star game, will be played at 1 p.m. Feb. 10 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.

Good stuff, but here’s where the Class kicks in:

Williams won’t be making the trip to Hawaii without a little company, however.
He has teamed up with the NFL Man to organize a benefit raffle for the Boys and Girls Club of Odessa, the grand prize of which is a trip for two to the Pro Bowl.
Raffle tickets are $25 each and can be purchased at the NFL Man in Music City Mall from Monday-Jan. 21. The tickets will be available for purchase from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 3-6 p.m. Jan. 21, with the drawing scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at the NFL Man.
All proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Odessa, an organization near to Williams’ heart. Three prizes will be given — a Playstation3 to the third-place winner; $1,000 to the second-place winner; and the grand prize of the Pro Bowl trip.
“I was the one who wanted to do this,” said Williams, who will be on hand for the Jan. 22 drawing. “My agent asked me why, but this is for the people of the Permian Basin. There are a lot of football fans here and this will be a chance for them to see the best of the NFL. Hopefully, this is an annual thing and not just this one time.”
The trip to the Pro Bowl will include airfare for two, tickets to the game and three nights of hotel accomodations [sic] in Honolulu.

(emphasis mine)

So, he’s not selling his tickets, he’s organized a raffle to help the Odessa Boys and Girls Club.  I’m entirely impressed.   Now I have to start watching Detroit Lions games, I suppose.  Anything for a fellow former Odessan.

 

Hat tip to my folks, who have been taking the Odessa American forever, and keep me up to date on the hometown.


Filed Under: Sports

Woman Dies after Water Drinking Contest

January 14, 2007 by

Did this radio station not consider the implications of their stunt? Via CNN:

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — A woman who competed in a radio station’s contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner’s office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

“She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad,” said Laura Rios, one of Strange’s co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. “She was crying, and that was the last that anyone had heard from her.”

…

That’s utterly horrible.  And for a Nintendo game.

Water intoxication.  Another bad way to die.


Filed Under: Medicine