Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: Europe

Adonal Foyle

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Morocco
  • 2014  –  Spain

Adonal Foyle is a retired NBA player, who was the eighth overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft. He played a total of 13 seasons, the first ten with the Golden State Warriors and last three with the Orlando Magic. Upon his retirement from playing professional basketball, Adonal served for 2 seasons with the Orlando Magic as their Director of Player Development. A published author, national speaker, and consultant, Adonal currently serves as the Community Ambassador for the World Champion Golden State Warriors.

Despite being recruited by several top basketball colleges, Adonal made the unorthodox decision to attend Colgate University, a small liberal arts college in upstate New York. A major factor in this decision was his desire to leave college with a strong academic grounding. At Colgate, he set an NCAA record with 492 career blocks which was only broken in 2002. Although he left Colgate early to join the NBA, he maintained his commitment to education and graduated in 1999.

During his NBA playing days, Adonal was a defensive specialist, collecting over 3,400 rebounds, and bringing toughness and tenacity to every game. He holds the Warriors franchise record for blocked shots at 1,140. He was a member of the 2009 Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic.

Adonal has received many honors, including induction into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, and the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame, NBA Players Association Community Contribution All-Star Award, Social Change Agent (Greenlining Institute), NBA Community Assist Awards (multiple years) and named Runner Up Central Floridian of the Year by the Orlando Sentinel in 2010. He has also been appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for St. Vincent & the Grenadines and has been honored with his own national postage stamp.

Joe Logan

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Colombia
  • 2010  –  Taiwan
  • 2011  –  South Korea
  • 2011  –  Philippines
  • 2012  –  Ecuador
  • 2013  –  India
  • 2015  –  Lithuania

Joe Logan was All American pitcher for Florida Southern College when the Moccasins won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1988. He had previously played for Chipola Junior College where he also won All American honors.

The Montréal Expos took him in the 28th round of the 1989 amateur draft. Joe played minor league ball in the Montréal Expos organization from 1989-1991, then played one year in the independent Northern League in 1993. He was 4-7 with a 2.88 ERA in his pro debut for the Jamestown Jammers to help them to the New York-Penn League title. He split 1990 between the Rockford Expos (10-2, 2.63) and West Palm Beach Expos (1-0, 1.88). Had he qualified, he would have been 5th in the Midwest League in ERA, just ahead of Pat Rapp. Back with West Palm Beach in 1991, he fell to 6-12, 3.18. In 1993, he was 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA for the Sioux Falls Canaries to finish with a 21-22, 3.13 record in pro ball.

After his Major League Baseball career ended, Joe was a minor league pitching coach for the Anaheim Angels from 1994-2000. Since 2002, Joe Logan has served as coach for the Orlando Reds AAU organization and he continues to work with collegiate and professional baseball players on a regular basis.

Barry Larkin

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Colombia
  • 2010  –  Ecuador
  • 2011  –  India
  • 2012  –  Lithuania
  • 2013  –  South Africa
  • 2015  –  Taiwan

Barry Larkin a 19-year Major Leaguer, 12-time National League All-Star, 1995 N.L. Most Valuable Player and MLB Network studio analyst, spent his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. Larkin served as Special Assistant to the General Manager for the Washington Nationals, specializing in player development and scouting. Larkin also participated in Major League Baseball’s efforts, led by Jim Lefebvre, to develop and train the Chinese National Baseball Team in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Larkin was selected by the Reds in the first round (fourth overall) in 1985 following a standout career at the University of Michigan. Larkin batted .353 in the 1990 World Series to help lead the Reds to a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics. He won three consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards from 1994-96. He earned 1995 N.L. MVP honors by hitting .319 with 15 home runs, 66 RBI and 51 stolen bases. In 1996, Larkin became the first Major League shortstop to join the 30-30 club when he hit 33 home runs and stole 36 bases. Larkin was named the Reds’ captain before the 1997 season.

Larkin batted .295, with 2,340 hits, 198 home runs, 960 RBI, 1,329 runs scored and 379 stolen bases. Baseball historian Bill James has called Larkin one of the greatest shortstops of all time, ranking him #6 all-time in his New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.

In 1993 Larkin won the Roberto Clemente Award, Major League Baseball’s highest off-field honor, for his philanthropy. In 2008, Larkin released a charity wine called “Barry Larkin’s Merlot,” with 100% of his proceeds supporting Champions Sports Foundation.

Cal Ripken, Jr.

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2007  –  China
  • 2008  –  Nicaragua
  • 2011  –  Japan
  • 2018  –  Czech Republic
  • 2021  –  Japan

Cal Ripken Jr. is baseball’s all-time Iron Man. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the second round of the 1978 MLB draft, remaining with the team for 21 seasons in which during his time, was managed by his father and played alongside his brother Billy Ripken

His name appears in the record books repeatedly, most notably as one of only ten players in history to achieve 400 home runs and 3,000 hits. One of his position’s most offensively productive players, Ripken compiled 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, and 1,695 runs batted in during his career. Won two Gold Glove Awards for his defense and was a 19-time All-Star. In 1995, Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s Major League record for consecutive games played (2,130) and in 1996 he surpassed Sachio Kinugasa’s streak of 2,215 straight games and voluntarily ended his streak on September 20, 1998 after playing 2,632 consecutive games.

On July 29, 2007 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Cal received the 4th highest percentage of votes in history, collecting the second highest vote total ever (98%) by the BBWAA.

In 2001, he and his family established the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation in memory of the family’s patriarch. The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, using sports-themed programs to bring police officers, youth partners and underserved kids ages 9 to 14 together on a level playing field to learn invaluable life skills. In addition, the Ripken Foundation’s Youth Development Park Initiative creates clean, safe places for kids to play on multi-purpose, synthetic surface fields that promote healthy living in an outdoor recreational facility. Over the last nine years, the Ripken Foundation has created 88 completed parks across the country in 23 states, 17 of which are Adaptive Fields for children with special needs. In 2018, the Ripken Foundation impacted over 1.5 million kids nationwide through its Youth Development Park and mentoring programs.

Michael Haynes

American Football

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Russia

Beginning his career as a three-year All-WAC star at Arizona State, Michael Haynes was a first selection in the 1976 NFL Draft and went on to play 14 seasons as a cornerback and punt return specialist in the NFL. During his rookie year with the New England Patriots, he led the AFC with 608 yards on 45 punt returns, earning him his first of nine Pro Bowl invitations. In 1983, Haynes was traded to the Los Angeles Raiders, whom he stayed with for seven years before his retirement at the end of the 1989 season. Haynes was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 26, 1997. Since retiring, Haynes has become an advocate for increasing benefits for retired players, particularly those who retired prior to 1993.

Billy Elmore

American Football

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Russia

Billy Elmore began his coaching career in 1994 as the Offensive Line Coordinator for junior and senior high football in Barton, Arizona. From 1997 to 2002, Coach Elmore coached various positions at Greenwood, Arizona. Coach Elmore received his firth Head Coaching job in 2002 at Glen Rose in Malvern, Arizona. In this position, Coach Elmore was awarded Hootens 3A Coach of the Year following his 2007 football season. After leaving Glen Rose in 2008, Coach Elmore was the Head Coach and Athletics Director in Stuttgart, Arizona from 2010 to 2014. In 2012, the Ricebirds won the State Championship against Ozark, making Coach Elmore one of the three active coaches to have won a State Championship Title at two different schools. Since 2014, Coach Elmore has been one of the three head coaches for the Blue Devils of West Memphis. Certified “Heads-up”, a passion of Coach Elmore throughout his career has been coaching and promoting safer game play.

John Cone

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Azerbaijan

After playing soccer at the collegiate level, Dr. John Cone began his coaching career as Assistant Coach at the Metropolitan State College of Denver in 1998. From then, he served a variety of positions at Colorado Rush, The University of Tennessee, SoccerPlus Camps, CASL, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sporting KC, Portland Timbers, and USSF. In 2005, Dr. Cone co-founded Fit for 90, an online soccer-specific sports science consulting company, of which he is the current CEO. In 2010, Dr. Cone graduated from UNC Greensboro with a Ph.D. in Kinesiology.

Ben Hatchell

Skateboarding

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Estonia
  • 2019  –  Finland
  • 2019  –  Denmark

Hatchell is a regular on X Games Park podiums, with 4 medals in 9 XG starts. He’s multi-talented: He has the mini ramp mastered and consistently lands a 540 in the bowl. He’s also won vert and street contests, and that combination of skills makes him a formidable competitor. Ben skates hard, fast and big — he finds great lines, is a lot of fun to watch and could contend for gold.

Neftalie Williams

Skateboarding

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Netherlands
  • 2017  –  Cambodia
  • 2021  –  Virtual
  • 2023  –  Barbados
  • 2023  –  Grenada
  • 2024  –  France

Dr. Neftalie Williams is the Director of San Diego State University’s Center for Skateboarding, Action Sports, and Social Change. His work delves into global issues surrounding race, gender, diversity, and youth empowerment, using critical theory to examine power dynamics, identity politics, and social transformation through the lens of action sports. Dr. Williams focuses on the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), as well as their non-BIPOC counterparts, to provide historical examples of challenges and solidarity that can guide us toward a more inclusive future.

With a background in both academia and a deep personal connection to skateboarding, writing, and photography, Dr. Williams has made significant contributions to the study of skateboarding culture. He has published scholarly works, written op-eds for mainstream publications, and provided commentary for various traditional news outlets and documentaries, including The New York Times, CNN, ABC, Forbes, and the documentary ‘Reaching the Sky’ featuring Olympian Sky Brown. His research on race and skateboarding, conducted as part of the 2019-2020 USC x Tony Hawk Foundation project, was prominently featured in The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.

Dr. Williams’ extensive experience also includes positions at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, as well as serving as a Yale Schwarzman Center Visiting Fellow in Race, Culture & Community. His scholarly expertise is complemented by his personal history as a skateboarder, writer, and photographer, which has led to features in publications like Transworld Skateboarding Magazine and Thrasher Magazine.

One of Dr. Williams’ pioneering concepts is using skateboarding as a tool for cultural diplomacy, both in theory and practice. He has spearheaded skate diplomacy initiatives for the U.S. Department of State’s embassies, engaging with youth globally and connecting them with their host country’s academic, sports, and cultural institutions. His work has taken him to countries such as Cambodia, The Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Barbados, and Grenada, aligning with his scholarly research in Brazil, The Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, and Cuba.

In an effort to expand public discourse on skateboarding culture, Dr. Williams founded “The Nation Skate,” a series of public panels, lectures, skateboarding demonstrations, and photography and skateboarding media. This initiative explores the intersection of race, gender, diversity, and diplomacy through the mediums of skateboarding, academia, and popular culture. His photography and scholarly endeavors have been showcased at prominent institutions like the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Ford Theater in Los Angeles.

Currently, Dr. Williams provides consultation on skateboarding and action sports for Disney Studios and Burton Snowboards. He is also a co-founder of the College Skateboarding Educational Foundation (CSEF), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing scholarships for young skateboarders pursuing higher education. Furthermore, he serves on the boards of the Tony Hawk Foundation/The Skatepark Project, Skateistan, McKinnon Center for Global Affairs, and chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for USA Skateboarding.

Lizzie Armanto

Skateboarding

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Estonia
  • 2019  –  Finland
  • 2019  –  Denmark

Lizzie Armanto is one of the most groundbreaking ladies in skateboard history. Pouring sweat, skill, and creativity into full parts for both Thrasher Magazine and Birdhouse in 2017, she also became the first female to be featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboarding in addition to Thrasher cover honors. Armanto is also one of the leaders of a new onslaught of fierce women skaters making names for themselves in the Vans Park Series circuit.

If that’s not enough, she’s also the first female skater to successfully complete Tony Hawk’s 360 Loop, in addition to being featured as a primary character in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 video game. With over 30 awards on her mantle, along with the first-ever Gold in X-Games Womens Park competition in 2013, Lizzie’s path is paved in milestones and setting the tone for generations of women in skateboarding.