Agassi

Andre Agassi is one of my favorite athletes of all time. Definitely my favorite tennis player. He is currently playing in his last tournament, and is keeping the thrills coming, winning a 5-set match over the 8 seed last night. Whether or not he wins another match, he is the epitome of dignity, integrity, and professionalism.
An excerpt from a July 17 Sport Illustrated article about him...

Andre was showing Robin Williams and members of Earth, Wind & Fire the academy that he built in the middle of the most destitute neighborhood in Las Vegas. It's a charter school, mostly poor black kids. He was explaining why learning levels here had made leaps so striking that the academy's middle school was the only one among 328 public schools in its county that's received an "exemplary" rating.
He took us to the room where Cirque du Soleil performers taught the kids acrobatics. Past the art class where a French painter who trained with Picasso taught them the use of color and space. He led us into a kindergarten class where, like a five-year-old himself, he burst forward so eagerly to tell everyone about the academy's innovations that he knocked over half of an edifice of blocks that the class had built, then dropped to his knees in such haste and remorse to rebuild it that he knocked over the rest.
You followed him down the gleaming hallways, thinking, Man, he got it, he really got the big picture, and wondering what the world would be like if a couple of superstars in each city did this. But his annual fund-raising gala for the school was scheduled for that weekend, and he was too busy to sit and explain how he got here.

Congrats Andre, on a great career, and for setting a great example!