We have been holding off on announcing our new Athlete of the Month until the holidays were officially over, however when we heard about South Dakota State basketball coach Scott Nagy, we decided to make him the Person of the Month.
Nagy is coaching barefoot this weekend in an effort to raise awareness and money for the people in Haiti.
It's not just a publicity stunt, despite living in South Dakota, the quake hit close to home for Nagy and his family. Nagy adopted a little girl from Petionville, Haiti, near the earthquakes epicenter. Despite trying Nagy wasn't able to reach his daughters birth mother. Discussing the quake and what happened with his daughter Naika has been difficult for Nagy.
"She's very intelligent and very bright," Nagy said. "She doesn't say a whole lot, but I know it's heavy on her heart...At first, she thought everybody was dead in Haiti," Nagy said. "I told her that most of the people lived. She said 'so, four people died?' I said 'more than that."'
Nagy has decided to take a stand, literally and do what he can to help the cause and awareness. Saturday, Nagy will coach barefoot as part of his effort to help collect shoes and money for earthquake relief in Haiti through Samaritan's Feet, a charity based in Charlotte, N.C. South Dakota State will play Oakland (Mich.) at home in Brookings,South Dakota. Nagy's goal is to help collect $30,000 and 2,000 pairs of shoes.
If you want to help you can text "shoes" to 85944 and a charge of $5 will be added to your cell phone bill or you can buy a pair of shoes for a child in need. Donations of gently used shoes also can be made at Finish Line stores, or at the organization's web site.
I personally have several pairs of Nike running shoes that I have absolutely no use for, I'm not sure how many Haitians wear a size 13, but in honor of coach Nagy and the 300 other coaches around the NCAA who have joined Samaritian's Feet, I am gathering up all of my Nike shoes and sending them off to a better place.
I won't go off on a rant about lame shoe companies and their messed up priorities, click here for that. Instead I will applaud Coach Nagy and the hundreds of other coaches who have stepped up to be shining examples in a time of tragedy.
Many of us have a pair of running shoes that may be too broken in to train in, but great for everyday use, now is a good opportunity to get them out of the closet and into the hands of someone who would truly appreciate them.
Click here to learn more about Samaritan's Feet. Click here to go to the Finish Line web site and learn how to donate shoes.
For Nagy going barefoot for a few hours is nothing compared to what is happening to the survivors in Haiti. "I like to stomp," he said. "I can't do that. My feet hurt bad enough after games. Honestly, once the game gets going, you don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about it. It's a good way to remind people that there's other things going on that are a heck of a lot more important than just basketball games."
Filed under: Charity, coaching, Events, News
Tags: Barefoot Coach, Haiti Relief, Ron Hunter, Samaritian's Feet, Scott Nagy, South Dakota State basketball
David Wallach
4 days, 9 hours ago