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Little big man Bucs' Dunn a winner off the field too
Updated: Tuesday December 26, 2000 10:55 AM
TAMPA, Fla. (CNNSI.com) -- For Georgia Mae Johnson, Santa Claus isn't a childhood dream, but a 5-foot-8, 180-pound vision of generosity. In the final days of her daughter's life, Johnson promised to raise her four grandchildren, ages 6 through 11 along with her own teenage son. Tampa Bay running back Warrick Dunn has helped fulfill that promise, making the down payment on a new house. He also helped secure all the furnishings from groceries to appliances to furniture, and allowing the Johnson family to leave their cramped apartment behind. "We have our own home," Johnson said. "And we are just going to enjoy it. And just pray and thank the Lord and Warrick for making this possible." The new home makes it possible for Johnson's children to have their own space and in turn, offer even the simplest of acts so they can share with others. "They can say, 'You can come to my house and we could spend the night,' you know, like other kids tell them," Johnson said. But it's not just the children who are basking in the holiday spirit. Georgia is living out her own dream. Working as a cook in a hospital for 31 years, she can now look forward to coming home to a fully stocked kitchen. Not surprisingly, Johnson holds Dunn in high regard. "He's an angel," she said. Dunn doesn't know if he's an angel, but he does know that everyone has a purpose in life. "I think God puts people on this earth for a reason," Dunn said. "I have gifts and I have other abilities to do things. And this is probably one of the things that He wants me to do." And one of the things Dunn did is provide Johnson's youngest grandchild with a new bike.
"You still get your surprise, OK?" he tells her. "Because you've been good. I got you a bike." When the little girl gives Dunn a hug, he responded saying, "Thank you for the hug. I like it." The impact of giving leaves an impact on Dunn. "It makes me speechless," he said. "She's not going to say much, but I know deep down inside she understands a little bit of what's going on. I can look in their eyes and see it. That's the best feeling that I can have, because I know I didn't effect their lives just today, but it carries on for years and years to come." Warrick knows that more than anyone. Seven years ago, his mother Betty Dunn Smothers, a police officer and single mother, was killed in an attempted robbery in Louisiana while working one of her many off-duty jobs to support her six children.
As the oldest, Warrick has helped raise his siblings, but with a touch far exceeding family ties. He's provided single mothers with the one thing his mother never had -- a house. "I'm thankful for what God has done for me," he said. "He took someone away, but he also blessed us. He brought us closer together. I've seen how my mom worked her butt off to just put food on the table, to pay rent every month. And I can just imagine how much they [single mothers] have to work, how hard they work and how much they want to provide for their family. "These women, they can't be my mother. In a sense I live through them. My dreams come through them." In four years Dunn has touched the lives of 22 single-mothers and 66 children. That includes last year's recipient Patricia Haygood and her five children of St. Petersburg. As a one-time drug addict, owning her own home was something Haygood could only dream about. "The more I do with my life, the more I can do for my home and my children," Haygood said. "This is a home that I can take and turn it into whatever I want it to be. You know, I see a great future for this house and to know that one day, not only is it going to be mine but one day it will be my children's." And it's a home that will always stay firmly grounded in its roots, a gift from a young man from Louisiana who lives his life to make his mother proud. "Warrick is a young man with great respect for women," Haygood said. "It's a terrible tragedy that he lost his mom. But the amazing strength that he found from that tragedy, you know, it's just so great. He could have gave up and said, 'I don't want to do this. I'm not going to do this. I don't even want to deal with life, let alone help somebody else with theirs.' But he didn't."
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