Warrick Dunn is THE MAN!  As a star running back who played with the Atlanta Falcons and did two stints with the Tampa Bay Buckner’s it would have been an easy task for Warrick to just retire into obscurity, sit back and live large as a former baller.  But you just don’t know the character of the man and what touches his heart.

Dunn has quietly helped 145 single parents obtain homes though his charity Warrick Dunn Charities, wdc.org.  Giving families the gift of $5,000 as the down payment for their new home purchased from Habitat for Humanity.  I guess he you can he’s carrying the ball and rushing to help families and now receives his hugs and cheers one person at a time.

But what drives Warrick to help?  His mother, Betty Smothers.  The night his mother was murdered changed Dunn’s life forever.  In the moment he became an 18-year-old man, father and a single parent to his 3 bothers and 2 sisters.  In the moment all the responsibilities of each new role fell on him.  His carefree teen years were gone.

Warrick Dunn knows first hand the role and responsibilities of being a single parent.  Of keeping a family together and weathering the emotional storm and joys of being head of the house.  Dunn knows that when you have a home, you have a refuge from all the bad stuff in life, a place to celebrate the good stuff in life and a place to call your own.  His mother never had her own home, so he helps single parents in her memory.

Now when I watch the movie Draft Day staring Kevin Costner, I know where the inspiration for Chadwick Boseman character Vontae Mack comes from and why Costner’s character Sonny Weaver, Jr. picks Mack.  It was about his character.

“Because I have been able to build a reputation as a talented player, I have been able to build futures. Because I am able to play, I am able to make a difference. Because I have been blessed with a talent, I also have been given a responsibility.” www.warrickdunn.com

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