Ex-NFL stars, New Horizons unite
By Sam Waller
Posted September 15, 2010 at 6 a.m.
Facebook video of interview
Three former NFL players, including 1987 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown, are partnering with New Horizons as part of the Athletes Against Child Abuse program.
Brown and two other former NFL players, Frank Harris and Rickey Dixon, were in the Big Country to visit New Horizon’s facility near Goldthwaite. The three spoke at a news conference Tuesday at Abilene Regional Airport before driving south.
Abilene-based New Horizons is a private, nonprofit agency that provides care and services for children, youth and families in abusive situations. Its mission, according to its website, is to provide an environment where children, families and staff are able to heal and grow through caring relationships and unconditional love and acceptance.
Dixon, who played six seasons at defensive back with the Cincinnati Bengals and Oakland Raiders after winning the 1987 Jim Thorpe Award at Oklahoma, said the three former players are working to raise awareness of child abuse throughout the country.
“We’ve all encountered kids and we’ve been kids before,” he said. “Just to have an opportunity to have people like Tim Brown with their prestige to join up with a company like this. It’s like teamwork. They’ve got a little cartoon out and I hear my little daughter say it all the time — ‘What’s it going to take? Teeeeeaaaaammwork!’
“We’re just trying to team up to get this message across to the United States.”
Brown, who starred at Notre Dame before spending 17 seasons in the NFL as a wide receiver with the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said that while having name recognition has helped, it is only one of the tools the group employs.
“If we can’t open doors using that avenue, we have to find other avenues to open those doors,” he said.
Harris, who spent four seasons with the Green Bay Packers and Bengals, said parental involvement was a key component of the program.
“We need this, but we need more to talk to parents and let them know about it,” he said. “It’s very important for parents to know about it. If we can give them information, they’re good to go and give that information to (other) parents.”
New Horizons CEO Michael Redden said joining forces with the Athletes Against Child Abuse program provides an immeasurable boost for his group.
“We do this work every day and, obviously, people are supportive of what we’re doing,” he said. “But to get awareness at the level of these guys who played in the National Football League and one of them on ESPN standing up and saying, ‘We have to do something,’ helps our mission greatly.
“We’re very excited about our partnership with them,” he said. “I think we’re going to do some great things together. And I’m also excited for what the people of Abilene and the surrounding are going to do now that they know this is a good cause to be involved in.”
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