Last week when the Americus Times-Recorder posted a story on Kansas City Chiefs TE Leonard Pope saving a six-year old boy from drowning at a pool party, Pope wasn't even quoted showing he wasn't seeking out the attention but since then all kinds of national networks and newspapers have called on him to tell his story.
So Leonard Pope is a popular guy over the last week (especially since NFL news has moved to a crawl with the lockout). He wants to use his story, and the extra attention surrounding it, as a way to help people. Via Albany Herald:
"I really want Bryson to look at it as a chance for him to learn how to swim. He can tell his friends, and hopefully the message gets to young kids to be able to learn how to swim at an early age.
"With my foundation, the C.H.A.M.P. Foundation, I want to try to incorporate swimming lessons, and hopefully in the future, I can even sponsor a couple of the kids to be able to have swimming lessons and just to be able to get the message out that way."
Good for him. Leveraging his story into some good. It's a smart move.
This is also some interesting timing with the Pope story. Tomorrow, June 29, marks the 28th anniversary of Joe Delaney drowning while trying to save several kids in Louisiana.