Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Year: 2008

Purvis Short

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Saudi Arabia

A native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Purvis Short attended Jackson State University and was the 5th overall selection of the Golden State Warriors in the 1978 NBA Draft.

Over his twelve-year NBA Career, he played for the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, and New Jersey Nets. Short averaged 17.3 points per game. He is currently the Warriors seventh all-time leading scorer. In the 1980-81 season, Short had a career high of 249 assists and a 16.1 per game average. In 1984, Short scored a career high of 59 points during a 131-114 loss — it was the most points scored in the NBA since David Thompson and George Gervin.

Upon retirement from the game, he joined the front office of the National Basketball Association and currently serves as Chief of Player Programs.

Pat Garrity

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Thailand

Patrick Garrity is a former NBA player who played in the league for ten years. He was a member of the National Basketball Players Association Executive Committee from 2000 to 2008 where he served as Secretary and Treasurer. He is currently the assistant general manager of the Detroit Pistons.

At the University of Notre Dame, Garrity spent four years with the Fighting Irish, averaging double-digits in scoring in all four seasons, including a 23.2 point-per-game average in his senior season of 1997–98. He was the Big East Men’s Basketball Player of the Year in 1997. In 1998, he was a Consensus Second Team All-America selection. He was a two-time Academic All-America selection as well as Academic All-American of the Year for Men’s Division I basketball in 1998.

He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks as their 19th pick during the 1998 NBA Draft before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks and then once again to the Phoenix Suns.

When he joined Orlando Magic, he played all 82 games, averaging 8.2 points per game and shot a 40.1 percent from three-point territory. In 2001, he hit a career high of 11.1 points per game.

Matt Bonner

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Tanzania

Matthew Bonner also known as the Red Rocket is a retired NBA player who was drafted by the Chicago Bulls as their 45th overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft before being traded to the Toronto Raptors. Aside from the Toronto Raptors, Bonner played for the San Antonio Spurs and Sicilia Messina of the Italian league.

Bonner played overseas in Sicily for a year to hone his skills before joining the Raptors roster. He averaged 19.2 points and 9.3 rebounds at the end of year. In 2004-05, he played all 82 regular season games and averaged 7.2 points per game. He is the only Raptors rookie to play all 82 games in a season.

After being traded to the San Antonio Spurs, Bonner won his first NBA Championship in 2006. He recorded his career-highs of 25 points and 17 rebounds in 2007. During the 2013 NBA Three Point Shootout during All-Star Weekend, he recorded a score of 19 knocking out Ryan Anderson and Stephen Curry and advanced to the final round. On June 15, 2014, Bonner won his second NBA Championship after the Spurs defeated Miami Heat 4-1.

Bonner and his brother Luke run a nonprofit organization called “Rock On Foundation” where they support community involvement in arts and athletics.

Kermit Washington

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Saudi Arabia

Kermit Washington is a former American NBA player. During his time at university, he became one of seven players in NCAA history to average 20 points and 20 rebounds throughout the course of their career. He is known for his ability to gather rebounds and was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers as the fifth overall pick in 1973.

Since retiring, Washington is a founder and operator of a number of charitable organizations. In 1994, Washington accompanied a team of doctors and nurses on a humanitarian mission to Goma, Zaire; to work in a refugee camp for those fleeing the Rwandan Civil War. Later in 1995, he founded the 6th Man Foundation.

Tim Gebhart

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  China

Tim Gebhart graduated from the University of Hawaii, Hilo with a degree in education. For 8 years following college, he worked alongside MLB Hall of Fame Shortstop Cal Ripken Jr and 12 year MLB player Bill Ripken where he traveled the world teaching baseball “The Ripken Way”. Throughout his time in Baltimore, he was able to complete his masters degree in special education at Northcentral University.
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In 2013, Gebhart was introduced to Sean Casey, the President and founder of the Miracle League of the South Hills. Gebhart helped him start Sean Casey’s Champions Camp during the summer to help raise money for the field and the playground located in Boyce Mayview Park. In 2016, Gebhart moved to Pittsburgh to become the executive director of the Miracle League of the South Hills and Casey’s Clubhouse.

Matt Krause

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Colombia

While in the U.S. Marine Corp Reserves from 1992 to 2000, Matt Krause pursued his undergraduate degree in exercise and sports science at East Carolina University. With the help of Jeff Connors, ECU’s strength coach, Krause went on to Graduate school at the University of Central Florida to obtain his Masters in strength and conditioning. After graduating, Krause’s first job was with the Knights. Krause’s first involvement in the major leagues was as an Intern with the Chicago Cubs. From there, he became a minor league coordinator with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then the Cincinnati Reds. In 2014, the New York Yankees’ hired Krause to be their Director of Strength and Conditioning, a position he held until 2019. Currently, Krause serves as the President of the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society.

Matt Backert

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  China

Matt Backert played baseball and soccer from 2002 to 2006 at Neumann University in Ashton, Pennsylvania. During this time, he earned various All-Conference and team honors in both sports. After graduating from Neumann, Backert spent seven years overseeing baseball operations for Ripken Baseball, including leading its instructional programs, such as camps and clinics. From 2007-2010, he served as a Baseball Coach Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, a position that led him around the world, including China and Nicaragua, to facilitate camps and coaching clinics to teach baseball to youth and coaches. From 2014 to 2017, Backert was the head baseball coach at The John Carroll School in Bel Air, Maryland. In 2018, Backert joined Community College of Baltimore County Essex Athletics as an Assistant Head Coach for the Knights. In late 2019, Community College of Baltimore County Dundalk Athletics announced Backert would become the Lions’ new head coach of their baseball team.

John Mayberry, JR.

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Nicaragua

John was born and raised in Kansas City Missouri and was a standout athlete at Rockhurst High School. His stellar performances on the led him being drafted by the Seattle Mariners as the 28thoverall pick of the 1stround 2002 Amateur Draft. However, he chose to take a baseball scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto California. With his continued success on the field John was drafted a second time by the Texas Rangers as the 19thoverall pick of the 1stround in the 2005 Amateur Draft. John accumulated 7 years of Major League Baseball experience playing for three different teams at the Major League level: Phillies, Blue Jays and Mets. Upon his retirement in baseball in 2015 john enjoys playing baseball and spending time with his family

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.

Billy Ripken

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  China

Billy Ripken grew up surrounded by baseball because of his father Cal Ripken Sr. who played and coached for the Baltimore Orioles. His father, his brother, and himself made baseball history when Ripken was picked by the Orioles in the 11th round of the 1982 MLB Draft. He played in MLB from 1987–1998 for the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers (1993–94, ’97), Cleveland Indians (1995), and Detroit Tigers (1998).

In 1990, Ripken had his most successful campaign offensively. He batted .291, the highest total of his career and a mark which would lead the Orioles in 1990. Ripken finished fifth among AL second basemen with a .987 fielding percentage and led AL hitters with 17 sacrifice hits. Billy committed a total of 11 errors, the fewest in major league history among second baseman-shortstop combinations. In 1992, Ripken hit what would be a career-high four home runs, batting .230 with 76 hits and 36 RBI in 111 games. He had a .993 fielding percentage.

Since his baseball career, Ripken has written several books on the development of young baseball players as well as novels that illustrate the difficulties of parenting and children’s lives as child athletes. In 2001, Bill and Cal Ripken, Jr. Co-Founded the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation as a tribute to their father’s devotion to teaching life skills and lessons through sports. Their foundation helps to build character and teach critical life lessons to at-risk young people living in America’s most distressed communities.