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Charlie Ward (born October 12, 1970 in Thomasville, Georgia) is an American football, basketball, and baseball player. Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback for Florida State University, and subsequently led the Seminoles to their first-ever National Championship when FSU defeated Nebraska 18-16 in the 1994 Orange Bowl. Charlie was only the second African-American quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy; no black QB has accomplished the feat since. When Ward won the Heisman, he set the record (it has since been eclipsed) for the greatest margin of victory in the voting. He also won the Sullivan Award that year. In 2006 he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Though Ward did not play baseball in college, he was drafted as a pitcher by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1993 free agent draft and by the New York Yankees in 1994.
Ward was a model student-athlete at Florida State. As a senior and captain of the team in 1993, he voluntarily approached Seminoles Head Coach Bobby Bowden about a difficult situation surrounding incoming freshman Warrick Dunn, whose mother, policewoman Betty Smothers, was killed in the line of duty during Dunn's senior year of high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Charlie served as a surrogate big brother to Dunn during the latter's first year in Tallahassee, helping him through a trying time by becoming his roommate and friend. Because of his integrity, Ward also managed to escape the fallout that many of his teammates received for the notorious "free shoes" scandal that surfaced in the months after FSU won the National Championship in 1994. In his senior year at Florida State, he also served as Student Government Vice-President, after he was asked to run by the Monarchy Party, a student government reform organization.
Upon graduation, Ward was not selected in the NFL Draft, so instead of pursuing a career as a football player in the NFL like most Heisman winners, he opted to enter the NBA as a point guard and was chosen in the 1st round of the 1994 NBA draft by the New York Knicks.
During his NBA career, Ward has established himself as a good three-point shooter, a reliable ball distributor, and a respected floor leader. He soon helped the Knicks reach the 1999 NBA Finals, before falling to the San Antonio Spurs. After maintaining relatively good health over his first decade in the league, though, injuries caused Ward to miss most of the 2004-05 season and put his career in jeopardy. Because of the injuries, Ward retired, and is currently an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets.
Off the court, Ward is one of the NBA's best role models, as he is known for his extensive charitable work through groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Controversy
In 2001, while a player for the New York Knicks, it was discovered that Charlie Ward had made some disparaging comments about Jews during a Bible-study session, comments that were eventually leaked to the press. Among the comments made: "Jews are stubborn... tell me, why did they persecute Jesus unless he knew something they didn’t want to accept... They had his blood on their hands."http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol4No2/jamming_jews.htm
There was an expected amount of outrage directed at Ward from Jewish groups, as well as the Knicks organization and the public at large. Ward defended himself by indicating that "I didn't mean to offend any one group because that's not what I'm about. I have friends that are Jewish. Actually, my friend is a Jewish guy, and his name is Jesus Christ."http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol4No2/jamming_jews.htm He also noted that the quotes were taken out of context, as he had stated that "Jews are stubborn" in speaking to what he perceived to be their disinclination to convert to Christianity.http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30E16FF35540C718EDDAD0894D9404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fW%2fWard%2c%20Charlie
Eventually Charlie did apologize for his statements, with his apology being accepted by the Anti-Defamation League.http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/3816_12.asp
Notes
External links
1970 births | African American basketball players | American basketball players | American football quarterbacks | Florida State Seminoles football players | Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players | Heisman Trophy winners | Houston Rockets players | James E. Sullivan Award recipients | Living people | New York Knicks players | Omega Psi Phi brothers | People from Georgia (U.S. state) | Phoenix Suns | San Antonio Spurs players | College Football Hall of Fame
"Charlie Ward"