This document discusses whether athletes should be considered role models. It provides perspectives from various athletes on their role or lack thereof as role models. While athletes may excel at their sport, they do not always display good moral character in their personal lives. Parents, teachers and other community leaders are suggested to be better role models for children than athletes.

1. Kristina Roach
Silver Creek High School
Spring 2012

2. Athletes Should NOT be Role
Models because…
 Although they can hit fastballs at 100 miles an
hour, dunk with others guarding them, and run 100
yards across a field to score a touchdown, they do
not always have good moral qualities
 “A well-chosen role model is not only a good
example for you to follow, but will help you become
the kind of person people will look up to”
 Role models should have characteristics of
honesty, commitment, determination, and high
moral values

3. Mickey Mantle
“Play like me, don’t be like me”

4. Cheryl Miller
 “When you reach a certain level of
visibility, you are a role model whether you
choose to be one or not”
 “Fair or not fair, that’s how it has always been”

5. Bill Russell
 “I think if an athlete is going to be a role model,
their only obligation is to live a life that their
folks would be proud of”

6. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
 “I like being in the forefront, but also encouraging
young people to be the best that they could be. So
for me, being in that position of being a
mentor, also being a leader, allowed me to do that”

7. Dwyane Wade
 “The only thing you can do really is be yourself
and know that people are watching, kids are
watching”

8. Serena Williams
 “I don’t feel a responsibility, I feel like I am who I
am and that’s good and I’m not doing anything
that I wouldn’t want anyone else to do”

9. Charles Barkley
 “I am not a role model. I am not
paid to be a role model. I am paid
to wreak havoc on the basketball
court. Parents should be role
models. Just because I dunk a
basketball doesn’t mean I should
raise your kids”
 “I don’t want to be the
controversial outspoken
Brother, and I don’t want to be
held up as a role model. I am just
a man trying to do good things”

10. Armon Gilliam
 “Mass media is reporting stories
of the very small percentages of
pro athletes that act out some
sort of misdeeds, the whole
process of making pro athletes
societal role models needs to be
reviewed”
 “The mass media is obsessed
with reporting negativity. I know
that is a very strong
statement, but it rings true”

11. Ben Roethlisberger
 “Ben never asked to be a role model for children. It is a
mistake for people to expect a complete stranger that
wears a Steeler jersey, enjoyed a good measure of
success as a pro athlete, won a couple of
Superbowls, and throws a football well to be their
children’s role model”(Gilliam)

12. Ben’s Teammates
 Charlie Batch’s work in the homestead
 Max Starks’ charitable work
 Hine Ward’s community service
 Jerome Bettis foundation
 Troy Polamalu’s community work

13. Ricky Henderson
 All-star baseball player
induced into the Major League
Baseball Hall of Fame
 Records include most stolen
bases in a season and
career, most runs scored, and
most walks since Barry Bonds
 Played 25 years in the major
leagues, with over 3,000
hits, nearly 300 home runs and
over 1,400 stolen bases

14. What was the problem?...
His unbelievably large ego
 Henderson was also recorded speaking of himself in
third-person
 “Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But
today, I am the greatest of all time”

15. Psychology Today
 “Wouldn’t it be nice if the media would spend
as much time focusing on the behaviors that
our children should model their behavior
after, rather than simply the behaviors they
ought not to model”
 “If we want our children to learn, better to
highlight and reinforce what they ought to
do, not what they ought not to do.
Otherwise, we may end up with a generation of
kids focused more on avoiding failure and not
screwing up and less focused on achieving
success”

16. Tiger Woods
 Tiger won 96 tournaments, 72 of which were in the PGA
tour, and he was the first golfer to hold all four
professional major championships at one time
 However, we all know about Tiger’s affairs from 2009

17. Bleacher Report
 “Tiger never asked for the title of ‘role model.’ Why
should any of us get fooled into following the lead of an
athlete in the first place – or allowing our children to do
so? The fact is, given their track record as a
whole, athletes – or celebrities in general – should be the
last place we look for guidance.”
 “We expect an excellence obtained by constant
training, and we expect a single-minded focus on
winning. Then we act surprised that somehow, these
athletes – usually young people who have been handed
millions of dollars – don’t act the way we want them to in
public.”

18. The Daily Beast
 “Any adult with a social IQ greater than a 10-year-old
knows that athletes are hothouse flowers –
worshiped, but isolated, from cradle to grave for their
talent with a ball.”
 “Spoiled-athlete syndrome begins early in sports
socialization. From the time they could be picked out of
a lineup because of their exceptional athletic
ability, they’ve been pampered and catered by
coaches, classmates, teammates, family members, and
partners. As they get older, this becomes a pattern.
Because they’re spoiled, they feel they aren’t
accountable for their behaviors off the field. They’re so
used to people looking the other way.”

19. In Conclusion…
Athletes Should Not be Role Models
 Athletes may perform well on the field or
court, but they do not always behave well in
their personal lives
 Athletes often do not have character
attributes such as honesty and good moral
values
 Parents, teachers, doctors, preachers, police
officers, etc. should be role models

20. Works Cited
 http://www.middletownschools.org/page.cfm?p=8542
 http://deadspin.com/5750485/mickey-mantles-outstanding-event-at-yankee-stadium-is-lewdly-outstanding
 http://www.californiasportshalloffame.org/inductees/2008/basketball/Cheryl-Miller.php
 http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/bill-russell-at.htm
 http://beautifulbrowngirls.com/2012/02/28/celebrating-the-women-of-black-history-jackie-joyner-kersee/
 http://georgiafathersrights.blogspot.com/2011/01/dwyane-wade-waits-for-child-custody.html
 http://www.inquisitr.com/183535/serena-williams-wins-500th-career-match-enters-3rd-round-of-2012-
australian-open/
 http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/charles-barkley-the-decision-that-was-torture_b86434
 http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/07/06/armon-gilliam-dies-at-age-of-47/
 http://www.nflpassers.com/ben-roethlisberger-restructures-contract-to-help-steelers-future/
 http://thegoodinsports.com/2012/03/14/charlie-batch-best-of-the-batch-foundation/
 http://technorati.com/sports/article/pittsburgh-steeler-hines-ward-arrested-for/
 http://student.ccbcmd.edu/~dar759820/143/Jerome%20Bettis/index.html
 http://unlimitedradio247.com/troy-polamalu-ok-set-to-play-against-bengals/
 http://rmcnab24.wordpress.com/pics/henderson/
 http://pintsinthepaint.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/a-very-rickey-friday/
 http://thesportlegends.blogspot.com/2011/04/real-maestro-of-golf-tiger-woods.html