Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Sam Perkins

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2005  –  Algeria
  • 2008  –  Kyrgyzstan
  • 2008  –  Kazakhstan
  • 2009  –  Qatar
  • 2010  –  Indonesia
  • 2011  –  South Sudan
  • 2012  –  United Kingdom
  • 2022  –  Albania

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Perkins attended Samuel J. Tilden High School. He later attended and graduated from Shaker High School in Latham, New York. He was named large-school player of the year (high school) by the New York State Sportswriters Association in 1980 and was also named to the 35 Greatest Boys McDonald’s All Americans team.

Perkins attended college at the University of North Carolina and played basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1980 to 1984. He was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 1981 and starred alongside future NBA Hall of Famers James Worthy and Michael Jordan on the Tar Heels’ 1982 NCAA championship team. A three-time All-American, Perkins was the 1984 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year. Perkins finished his collegiate basketball career as the Tar Heels’ all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots and as the second-highest scorer in team history. He graduated from UNC in 1984.

Perkins was a co-captain of the gold-medal-winning 1984 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team.

Chosen by the Dallas Mavericks as the fourth overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft, Perkins went on to play as a power forward and center in the NBA from 1984 to 2001. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1985. Perkins played for the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Seattle SuperSonics, and the Indiana Pacers, respectively. He scored a career-high 45 points on April 12, 1990. Perkins tied an NBA record on January 15, 1997 by making eight three-pointers without a miss. He appeared in three NBA Finals: The 1991 NBA Finals (with the Lakers), the 1996 NBA Finals (with the SuperSonics), and the 2000 NBA Finals (with the Pacers). In Game One of the 1991 NBA Finals, Perkins made a game-winning three-point shot to defeat the Chicago Bulls. He was known by the nicknames “Sleepy Sam”, “Big Smooth”, and “The Big Easy”.

Since his retirement in 2001, Perkins has been actively involved in a variety of charitable endeavors, including Special Olympics, Nothing But Nets in conjunction with the United Nations, Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brothers, Carolina for Kibera, NBA Cares, Basketball Without Borders and Habitat for Humanity.

In 2002, Perkins was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men’s basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

In 2008, Perkins was named vice president of player relations for the Indiana Pacers. That September, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

In October 2011, Perkins traveled to South Sudan as a SportsUnited Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, where he worked with Hall of Fame NBA center Dikembe Mutombo to lead a series of basketball clinics and team building exercises with youths, the South Sudanese Wheelchair Basketball Team, and 36 coaches.

Perkins was named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

Mark Madsen

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Tunisia

Ellsworth Madsen is a former American NBA player and current head coach of Utah Valley University. Due to his hustle and physical style of play, he received the nickname ‘Mad Dog’ while playing for the San Ramon Valley HS Wolves. The Los Angeles Lakers selected Madsen in the first round of the 2000 NBA Draft and contributed to the Lakers’ winning the NBA Championships in 2001 and 2002.

Madsen signed with the Timberwolves as a free agent before the 2003 NBA season and played with them for six seasons before Madsen waived on playing with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2009.

On April 14th 2019, Mark Madsen was named head coach at Utah Valley University. Prior to joining Utah Valley, Madsen spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers. During those six seasons, Madsen coached Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, LeBron James, Steve Nash and many others. In his first year as head coach at Utah Valley, some highlights of the season included road wins at UAB, Grand Canyon, and North Dakota State University. Additionally, in a road game against Kentucky, Utah Valley played the Wildcats to a 1 point game with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game.

Billy Owens

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Malawi

Billy Owens, a 6’9” shooting forward, spent 10 years successful years in the NBA, making stops with the Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Seattle SuperSonics, Sacramento Kings, Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors. He was an unanimous selection to the 1991-92 NBA All-Rookie First Team, averaging 14.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 1.13 spg for the Warriors and finished third in Rookie of the Year balloting behind Larry Johnson and Dikembe Mutombo.

He was drafted third overall in the 1991 NBA Draft after a stellar Junior year at Syracuse University. He was named Big-East Player of the year, Consensus All-American and averaged over 20 points per game.

Owens was also a member of the USA national team during the 1990 World Championship, taking home the bronze medal.
The Carlisle, Pennsylvania, native led his hometown to four consecutive Pennsylvania AAA state titles and was considered to be one of the top two prep players in his class alongside Alonzo Mourning.

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.

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.

Jay Miller

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Morocco
  • 2009  –  Bolivia
  • 2010  –  Thailand

Coach Miller is the Executive Director of Coaching for the Atlanta Fire United Soccer Association, a club with over 4,000 members. He also serves as the head coach of the Region III boys Olympic Development Program (ODP)
Coach Miller was the head soccer coach at the University of Tampa, where he won six consecutive conference titles and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II National Championship in 1981. He also coached the University of South Florida Men’s Program to four conference titles.

Coach Miller has over 20 years of international coaching, training and scouting experience, including the position of the USA Under-17 National Team Coach, USA U-23 National Team Coach and the interim coach of the full USA National World Cup team.

He has served as the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) National Coaching Coordinator 1994-2001 and has been instructing on the National Staff since 1978. Coach Miller holds a USSF National “A” Coaching License.

Jay earned a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Education from East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Erin Constock

Snowboarding

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Armenia

Respected, resilient, and eminently stylish, this snowboard industry veteran is one of the few women to have graced the cover of Transworld Snowboarding magazine, not to mention clocking film parts in more videos than you can shake a shredstick at. Yep, Erin Comstock is a high-profile rider who gets much love from the media for her über-smooth park riding and keen powder prowess (as well as that dazzling smile of hers). As such, she’s an inspiration to any female pro rider looking outside the “contest-pro” box in search of making a living as a legit “film pro.” La La Land, See What I See, Vans’ Lucid Dreams, Park City’s I Ride Park City and City. Park City, Roxy’s Labor Of Love—these are just a few of the film titles that include Erin in their rider roster, and there’re undoubtedly many more to come.
A natural born athlete and true child of the mountains, Erin grew up in Lake Tahoe riding every single day. She played soccer at San Jose State University, before transferring to the University of Utah and the nearby shred playground of the Wasatch Mountains. Erin has called Salt Lake City home ever since, where she can be found in equal parts riding the city’s urban rail offerings, polishing her tricks on Park City’s jump and jib line, dropping into the Utah backcountry, and of course, boarding planes for exotic snowboard locales around the world.

After suffering a broken collarbone in the fall of 2008 that kept her off the snow until February of last season, Erin has a new appreciation for the confidence that comes with good health and mindset. She spent the summer fine-tuning her physical and mental game, shredding it up at her High Cascade Signature Session at Mt. Hood, and getting her ducks all in a row for ’09/10. Says, Erin, “I’m lining up the film crew I’ll be working with this year and I’m so excited for another season of riding!”

Amber Stackhouse

Snowboarding

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Armenia

Amber Stackhouse is a Renaissance woman whose list of talents goes far beyond her skills on a snowboard. She’s been a sponsored pro rider for a decade now—but she’s also a self-made filmmaker with a keen sense of the creativity and community involved in snowboarding. With that said, Amber’s growing into a new role here at Roxy. Amidst a hectic schedule of shredding her heart out, she’ll also be heading up the filming, production, and direction of the ’09/10 season’s Roxy Snow web videos (she produced and co-directed last season’s Roxy Snow podcasts, too).

Originally from the Northeast wilds of Portland, Maine, Amber first stepped on a snowboard in 1995 and quickly fell in love. Her passion for the shred took her west to Mammoth, where she honed her smooth riding style along with a lethal set of park and powder skills, before moving to her current home of Salt Lake City. Amber was at ground zero when the women’s snowboarding movement exploded in the early 2000s, and sick of seeing the talent around her going undocumented, she decided to do some documenting of her own. In 2004, she co-founded Misschief Films and released two groundbreaking all women’s snowboard movies (As If and Ro Sham Bo), followed by the production of Roxy Snow’s team movie Labor Of Love.

A fiercely loyal friend who is always down for the crew, Amber’s continually on a mission of self-improvement. She spent the ’09 summer in Sweden gaining an in-depth knowledge of film and camerawork to put to use during the winter. “At the moment I’m more interested in capturing and conveying the riders as individuals, as well as their snowboard skills,” she says. “It’s the bigger picture, so to speak.” We can’t wait to see what this talented lady creates, both on snow and on film.

Barbara Chilcoat

Volleyball

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Bolivia

Barbara Chilcoat played volleyball at Lynchburg College, and then after graduating, on a USVBA Women’s A team until she started her family. Barbara is a 5th grade teacher at Lakeside Elementary School, in Henrico County, near Richmond, Virginia. She has taught children from 5th – 8th grade for thirty years. She is married with two children who both play volleyball on national travel teams at the Richmond Volleyball Club. (RVC)

Barbara has been coaching volleyball on and off for 30 years. When volleyball was in it’s infancy in the Richmond area, she was at the forefront in developing her high school teams, running volleyball camps for all players in the area, and coaches clinics, to bring up the level of play in the area. Then she developed the boy’s side of the RVC youth program.

Barbara enjoys camping with her family in the summers. She enjoys cooking, reading, photography, and gardening. She looks forward to retirement to spend more time traveling around the world to meet more wonderful people.