WWE sent out the following press release
today:
Titus O’Neil to receive The Rainbow PUSH
Trailblazer Award
Titus O’Neil will be honored at The Rainbow
PUSH Trailblazer Awards and Sports Events July 1 in Chicago. The Superstar will
receive the Humanitarian & Community Service Award, which recognizes his
significant contributions to the sports industry.
According to the
Rainbow PUSH Coalition, honorees are chosen for their work serving as advocates
and community leaders who partner with the sports industry to invoke the greater
good on and off the field.
“This is a huge honor for many reasons,”
O’Neil told WWECommunity.com. “I do what I do not because I want recognition; I
do what I do because I feel it’s the right thing to do. So to get recognition
for it is truly an honor. Hopefully through my continued community efforts it
will get other people on board.”
O’Neil’s award nomination came from the
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., the founder and president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-issue, progressive,
international membership organization fighting for social change. The
Coalition’s mission is to protect, defend, and gain civil rights by leveling the
economic and educational playing fields, and to promote peace and justice around
the world.
“Rev. Jackson has obviously been through the Civil Rights
Movement,” O’Neil said. “He’s always fought for the equality of all people, not
just people of color. He’s been a man who has set goals — some he has reached,
some he hasn’t — but he has continued to push to get equality among all
people.”
O’Neil will also be part of a sports roundtable on “The Business
of Sports: Race, Diversity & Inclusion — Leveling the Playing Field on and
off the Field.” During this forum, O’Neil will join the discussion on the
changes and challenges within the sports world, and will tell stories of his
experience and expertise as a college athlete, businessman and WWE
Superstar.
“Being a former college athlete, a very highly touted recruit
and a college graduate, I can bring a perspective of being an athlete that’s
gone into the business world as well as my current position as a WWE Superstar,”
O’Neil explained.
“Now I’m blending business, entertainment and sports
all in one. As a minority, I’m looking to hopefully give people some positive
insight in regards to not only furthering their careers, but also helping to
develop people around them as well when they get into a leadership
position.”
O’Neil has long been actively involved with WWE’s many
community and charity initiatives across the United States and around the world,
including his work with the Be a STAR anti-bullying initiative in conjunction
with the Creative Coalition, the Special Olympics, the Fatherhood.gov campaign,
Hire Heroes USA and Susan G. Komen. He’s also branched out on his own, donating
his time to charities in his home state Florida as well as on a national
level.
“Some of the things I participate in regularly are working with
the YMCA,” he said. “I coach a lot with kids and youth. I work with youth groups
at Revealing Truth Ministries. We have so many outreach programs there for
youth. I visit the elderly on a regular basis. I try to lend myself to as many
organizations as possible because there was a point in which there was a lot of
people who served in these organizations that helped me to grow as a man, as an
individual and as a student. So I’m looking forward to continuing that
effort.”
O’Neil said being selected for The Rainbow PUSH Trailblazer
Award is a great honor, and he hopes leave a lasting impression on his sons,
Thaddeus and Titus.
“It’s very humbling and surprising to be selected
because again, I don’t do what I do for awards or accolades,” O’Neil said. “I do
what I do because that’s my purpose here on Earth — it’s to help change as many
lives as I possibly can, because my life was changed by other people.
“I
have two sons to raise and I hope that the legacy I leave as a serviceman and a
servant to other people far outweighs the legacy I leave as an athlete or
entertainer, because you’re only those things for a certain period of time, but
you can be a contributing body to society for your entire life if you choose to
be.”
O’Neil will be presented The Rainbow PUSH Trailblazer Award at the
organization’s Annual Conference in Chicago on July 1. For more on the Rainbow
PUSH Coalition, visit rainbowpush.org.
