The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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December 16, 2008

Mike Pound: Former Royals contribute to Pittsburg charity

By Mike Pound

Globe columnist

mpound@joplinglobe.com



There’s something wrong with a group of former Kansas City Royals.

They haven’t been in the news lately. Not one of the 35 members of the Kansas City-based alumni group has shot himself in the leg recently. Not one member of the group has been arrested. Not one member has been heard whining about making “only” $25 million a year, or dumping on his coach or teammates.

I’m telling you, it’s almost as if the guys don’t even want to make the news.

Actually, the members of the Royals Alumni really don’t want to make news. What they want is to do what they can to help folks who might be having a hard time. They want to do some good. They want, in short, said Fred White — the former longtime Royals broadcaster and current director of the team’s Broadcast Services and Royals Alumni — to do something for a community that has been good to them.

“The phrase ‘give back’ may be overused sometimes, but not in this case,” Fred said. “These guys feel blessed to have had careers in the major leagues, and they do want to give back.”

Thanks to the members of the Royals Alumni group, several families in the Pittsburg, Kan., area will have a brighter Christmas this year. Dalton Windsor, the morning man for KKOW radio in Pittsburg, said the Royals Alumni group has awarded the station $1,500 to donate to an area charity for Christmas. Dalton said the station was approached by the Royals because the station is part of the Royals Radio Network.

“They contacted us about a month ago and asked us to name a charity that we work with to be considered for a donation, and Fred White e-mailed me that we would be receiving a $1,500 check,” Dalton said.

Fred said the former players have donated $24,000 to assist 18 families and 11 agencies. The members of the alumni group have long been active in raising money for charities in the Kansas City area, but this is the first time, he said, that the group has launched a Christmas drive.

It was Fred’s idea to reach out to members of the Royals Radio Network for help in identifying worthy charities throughout the team’s coverage area, but he was quick to deflect any credit for the donations.

“All the credit goes to our former players, not only for the work they did to raise the money, but for coming up with the idea,” he said.

Fred said the driving force behind the fund-raising effort is the group’s board of directors: Frank White, Jeff Montgomery, Jim Eisenreich, John Wathan and Paul McGannon. The alumni group also includes guys like George Brett, Brian McRae, Dennis Leonard and John Mayberry.

It’s a pretty impressive list of names. And I mentioned that to Fred.

“One of the great things about this world is we get to choose our friends,” Fred said. “I would choose these guys (as friends) any day of the year. I’ve known a lot of them since 1973.”

Dalton said an announcement about the Pittsburg charity selected to receive the $1,500 will be made soon. The charity, he said, has already been identified, but the folks at KKOW would like to have a check presentation ceremony.

“The charity is one of the best at helping folks who are down on their luck, and we are very appreciative of the Royals for this donation,” he said.

In addition to his baseball broadcasting, Fred has broadcast college basketball and football games, and he continues to broadcast Big 12 Conference basketball games. He’s been around the sports scene for more than 30 years, and counts hundreds of professional athletes and coaches as friends. He said he has always been amazed at how generous they are with their time and their money.

“These guys are a lot better people than most realize,” Fred said. “There are so many acts of kindness (performed by current and former professional athletes) that nobody even knows about. And they don’t want anybody to know about them. They’ve just always done those things.”

See, I told you there was something wrong with the Royals Alumni group.

All they want to do is help people.

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