Hines Ward

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Hines Ward
Date of birth	March 8, 1976 (age 31)
Place of birth	Seoul, South Korea
Position(s)	Wide Receiver
College	Georgia
NFL Draft	1998 / Round 3/ Pick 92
Career Highlights
Awards	2002 Steelers co-MVP 2003 Steelers MVP 2005 Steelers co-MVP 2005 Super Bowl MVP
Records	Pittsburgh Steelers Career Receptions (648).
Stats
Statistics	NFL.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1998-present	Pittsburgh Steelers

Hines E. Ward, Jr. (born March 8, 1976 in Seoul, South Korea) is a multiethnic (born to a Korean mother and an African American father) football player who currently plays wide receiver for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. He was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL. Recently, he has become an advocate for ethnic minorities in South Korea.

[edit] High school career

At Forest Park High School in Forest Park, Georgia, Ward showcased his athletic skills as a quarterback and was a two-time Clayton County Offensive Player of the Year. He earned All-American honors from Super Prep, Blue Chip Illustrated & USA Today, as well as All-State & Super Southern Top 100 honors. Ward was also an excellent student and graduated with a 3.81 GPA.[1]

[edit] College career

As a wide receiver for the University of Georgia Bulldogs (1995–1998), Ward's 144 career receptions for 1,965 yards placed him second in team history. He also played tailback and quarterback, and totalled 3,870 all-purpose yards, second only to Herschel Walker in Bulldogs history. Coming out of college it was discovered that Ward was missing an ACL. This may well have affected his position in the NFL draft. He received his bachelor's degree in consumer economics from UGA, where he became a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

Ward attempts to break an opponenent's tackle during a game in 2006.

[edit] Professional career

Ward's versatility has served him well as a professional wide receiver. Since being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft, he has earned three team Most Valuable Player (MVP) selections. He is also a four-time consecutive NFL Pro Bowl selection (2001–2004). He also had a streak of 4 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, which would have likely been extended in the 2005 NFL season if he had played in the one game he missed for the Steelers due to injury. In 2002, he set a Steelers franchise record for receptions (112), and touchdowns (12), and was named to his first of two consecutive All-NFL teams. He is widely considered the best blocking receiver in the NFL.

In 2005, Ward missed the first two weeks of training camp in a holdout for a contract extension that would increase his salary. Ward had considered holding out before camp in 2004, but had been persuaded by the Steelers that they could work out an extension during the year. Ward eventually showed up on August 15, 2005 and was on the sidelines for Pittsburgh's first preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles that night, though he did not play in that game. On September 5, 2005, the Steelers announced that they had reached an agreement on a four-year contract extension with Ward.

On November 27, 2005, Ward became the Steelers all-time leading receiver with his 538th catch against the Browns on Sunday Night Football. The Steelers won 34-21.

Ward is also renowned as a terrific post-season receiver, accumulating 57 receptions, 761 yards, and 8 receiving touchdowns in 10 post-season appearances (including his Super Bowl XL appearance, in which he was named the MVP).

On February 5, 2006, Ward was named MVP in Super Bowl XL as the Pittsburgh Steelers won 21-10. Ward scored a 43 yard touchdown in the 4th quarter, thrown by fellow wide receiver Antwaan Randle El. Overall, Ward had five receptions for 123 yards and one TD and one rush for 18 yards.

Immediately following Super Bowl XL, Ward was videotaped for the latest "I'm Going to Disney World!" TV commercial, adding "...and I'm taking The Bus!" Ward and Steelers teammate Jerome "The Bus" Bettis appeared in a victory parade at the Magic Kingdom theme park on February 6 along with Emmitt Smith.

[edit] Personal

[edit] Trivia

• Ward resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Simone and his son Jaden.
• On his right arm is a tattoo of his name in Hangul, the Korean alphabet (Korean: 하인스 워드), and below that a tattoo of Mickey Mouse carrying a football. [2]
• Ward's draft status dropped coming out of college when it was discovered that he was missing an anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. [3]
• In September 2006, Ward began hosting the "Hines Ward Show" on Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA [4]
• He co-owns a bar in Pittsburgh's South Side called "The Locker Room".[5]

[edit] As a figure for social change

Ward's mother (Kim Young-hee 김영희) is Korean and his father (Hines Ward, Sr.) is African-American. In 2006, Ward became the first Korean-American to win the Super Bowl MVP award. This achievement threw him into the media spotlight in South Korea, where racially-mixed people often face discrimination.^[1]

From April 3 through May 30, 2006, Ward returned to his birthplace of Seoul for the first time since his parents moved to the United States when he was one year old. Ward used his celebrity status to arrange "hope-sharing" meetings with multiracial Korean children and to encourage social and political reform. Ward cried when describing the discrimination he faced. At one hope-sharing meeting, he told a group of children, "If the country can accept me for who I am and accept me for being a Korean, I'm pretty sure that this country can change and accept you for who you are."^[2] On his final day in Korea, he donated $1 million USD to create the Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation, which the AP called "a foundation to help mixed-race children like himself in South Korea, where they have suffered discrimination." ^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ "Hines Ward scores big for social change", Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sunday, April 09, 2006.
2. ^ "Hines Ward scores big for social change", Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sunday, April 09, 2006.
3. ^ "Ward kicks off his new charity", Associated Press, May 30, 2006

[edit] External links

• Official Website of Hines Ward
• 2006 "Hines Ward - Trip Of A Lifetime", Associated Press, January 31, 2006
• "NFL Body Art", Sports Illustrated, January 10, 2006 (with photo of Mickey Mouse tattoo)
• "Living the Dream: Hines Ward's return to Korea", Malcolm Beith, Newsweek (International Edition), March 27, 2006
• "Ward spins biracial roots into blessing", Paul Wiseman, USA Today,April 9, 2006
• Hines Ward page at:
  • NFL Players' Union
  • Pro Football Reference
  • Database Football