Annual Report

After retiring from pro football, I had to have three surgeries: back, knee and shoulder. But before I could have these surgeries, I had to have several EKGs, tests that check the heart’s function. After that, I was ordered to have a heart catheterization. Everything checked out fine. But it was during this stressful time that I was given a book called The Heart’s Code, by Paul Pearsall. Pearsall said, “Our ancestors knew that the heart had powerful energy and that it conveyed deep wisdom. However, as the human species developed its brain, it began to lose sight of its heart.” I wondered to myself if this had happened to me. Playing football and reaching the ultimate pinnacle of my career in Super Bowl XX, I knew I had reached a dream. But I began to see that was only a portion of what I was. I had achieved a physical goal, but now I was seeking the connection to my soul, my real purpose in life. I began to get involved in programs in housing projects and the Juvenile Detention Center, as well as a program in the suburbs.

It has been said that the greatest threat to civil society is man. Regardless of where you live there are negative stories on the news channels, stories of conflict, poverty, corporate corruption, identity theft, hatred, and death. While watching the news in 1992, I saw that one of the students I was mentoring had been murdered in a senseless killing. His death really awakened me to the possibility that maybe we have lost our heart.

The Heart’s Code, which honors and follows clinical observation and empirical science, suggests, for example, that the heart stores energy and information that comprise the essence of who we are, and that sensitive persons who have received heart transplants may reveal the often invisible heart’s code of the donor organ living inside them.

After Albert Perry’s death, I met Mr. Jerry Ulm, a businessman who offered the opportunity for three students to earn funds for college in his automobile dealership. Mr. Ulm did not live to see those students go off to college. In lieu of floral tributes, the Ulm family asked that donations be made to All Sports in Mr. Ulm’s name. Because of this family and the community, which includes both the inner city and the suburbs, hundreds of students have had the opportunity to achieve their dreams of entering and graduating from college. At the same time they are awakening their social conscience, and this has inspired them to come back to give back. We now have six students who are directing All Sports Community Service programs at middle schools and high schools. The three students who worked for Mr. Ulm are now donors, and continue to assist the next generation to achieve their dreams.

This would not have been possible without you, the donors. From my heart to yours, I say thank you on behalf of the All Sports staff and our hundreds of students for having the heart to help the next generation fulfill their aspirations.

Sincerely,
Tyrone Keys
Executive Director

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