Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Bo Outlaw

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2011  –  Democratic Republic of Congo
  • 2015  –  Poland

Charles “Bo” Outlaw (born April 13, 1971) is a retired American professional basketball player. Outlaw was known for his athleticism, tenacious defensive approach and sub-par free-throw shooting (.521 for his career).

He was born in San Antonio, Texas, and is a 1989 alumnus of John Jay High School, where he led the Mustangs to the Texas state finals before they were defeated by Houston Clear Lake High School.

Outlaw played for South Plains College and the University of Houston. During his time in Houston, he averaged 14.0 ppg., 9.1 rpg., and led NCAA Division I with a field goal percentage of .684. In 1993 he declared eligibility for the NBA draft but was not selected.

Outlaw began his professional career in the CBA, where he averaged a league-leading 3.8 blocks per game in the half-season he played for the Grand Rapids Hoops.

On February 15, 1994, Outlaw began his NBA career with the Los Angeles Clippers, recording 13 points and 7 rebounds in a 100-89 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. He played three full seasons for the Clippers, who made the playoffs in 1997 but were defeated by the Utah Jazz in the first round.

Outlaw left Los Angeles as a free agent and signed a two-year deal with the Orlando Magic on September 5, 1997. During Outlaw’s 1997–98 season, he started in 76 of 82 regular season games and recorded what would remain career-high averages in every statistical category except for assists. However, the Magic failed to reach the playoffs in 1998. After Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly retired and was replaced by Doc Rivers, Outlaw signed another contract with the Magic in the off-season, after which he played two and a half more seasons for the team.

On April 17, 1998, Outlaw recorded 25 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists in a 121-109 win over the New Jersey Nets. After the game, reporters asked him how he felt about his first triple-double, to which Outlaw famously replied “What’s that, some kind of hamburger?”.

Outlaw was released in November 2001 and acquired by the Phoenix Suns. After one and a half seasons with them, Outlaw left for Memphis where he was reunited with former Magic teammate Mike Miller. In 2004, after one season in Memphis, Outlaw returned to Phoenix where he was hampered by nagging injuries and his playing time was restricted by the strength of the team. Accordingly, in the 2005–06 season, he returned to the Magic, appearing in 75 additional games in the course of three seasons. Outlaw was waived in November 2007 after playing 7 minutes over 2 games in the 2007-08 season.
Over his NBA career (914 games) he averaged 5.4 points and 4.9 rebounds. He currently resides in Orlando.

Alexander English

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  China
  • 2014  –  South Korea
  • 2015  –  Italy

Alex English was born January 5, 1954 in Columbia, South Carolina. English stayed true to his homegrown roots, starring at local Dreher High School before moving on to play collegiately at the University of South Carolina.

Following his career at South Carolina, English was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 23rd overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft. During his time in Milwaukee, English learned the game as a backup as the team tried to rebuild following Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s departure. English was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 1978, where he began to show flashes of his scoring ability, averaging 16 points per game. Midway through the 1979-80 season, he was traded once more to the Denver Nuggets where he would solidify his reputation as a prolific scorer. From 1980-1990, his entire tenure with the Nuggets, English averaged 26 points per game, earned 8 All-Star bids, became a 3-time All-NBA Second Team selection, led the league in scoring in 1983 and became the franchises’ all-time leading scorer. To add to the list of impressive feats, English led the Nuggets in scoring in 55% of the games he played for Denver. Following this decade with the Nuggets, he signed with the Dallas Mavericks in 1990, where he would play for one season before finishing his NBA career.

After being away from the game for a few years, English got into coaching, spending one season each with the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach prior to joining the Toronto Raptors organization. There, he would spend 2004 – 2011 as the Director of Player Development and as an assistant coach. In the summer of 2011, English finished with the Raptors and spent one season with the Sacramento Kings.

Ron Roenicke

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  New Zealand

A native of Covina California where he attended Edgewood high school and was rising star in baseball. Ron was drafted four times: the Oakland A’s in 1974, San Francisco Giants in 1975, Detroit Tigers in 1976 and the Atlanta Braves in 1976. Ron declined to sign all four years and elected to play collegiate baseball at UCLA. In 1977 was drafted by the Dodgers and chose to sign with one of the top franchises in Major League Baseball, and eventually made his Major League debut at the age of 24 in 1981.Ron played 8 years in the Majors for 6 different teams and played in 527 games with a career batting average of .238.Since retiring from baseball as a players Ron has worked his way through the coaching ranks over the years and is now the manager for the Boston Red Sox.

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.

Gilberto Mendoza

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Panama

Gilberto Mendoza Jr. started playing baseball at 4 years old. In high school, Mendoza played for Tottenville High, whom he went on to win a championship with. In football, he was the number one running back in NYC 2011-2012 PSAC football. His senior year at Tottenville, Mendoza earned a scholarship for both baseball and football to attend Baruch College in New York. At Baruch, Mendoza played Shortstop and Infield on the baseball team.

Jeremy Guthrie

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Panama
  • 2017  –  Nigeria
  • 2018  –  Brazil
  • 2020  –  Virtual

Beginning his baseball career as the starting pitcher at Stanford University, Jeremy Guthrie currently plays for the Eastern Reyes del Tigre of the Constellation Energy League, but played for 15 years in MLB for the Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, and the Washington Nationals.

Guthrie pitched for Team USA in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. During his time with the Kansas City Royals, he logged the most innings of his career during the 2013 season with 211⅔. He finished with a 15–12 record and a 4.04 ERA. The 2014 season Guthrie posted a 4.13 ERA over 202.2 innings and finished the regular season with a record of 13–11.

Guthrie is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and he served for two years as a missionary for the church in Spain. On February 1, 2018, Guthrie began a three-year assignment as president of its Texas Houston South Mission for the LDS church.

Jed Lowrie

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Colombia
  • 2018  –  Nicaragua

Jed Lowrie is a free agent who was called up from the minor leagues in 2008 to play for the Boston Red Sox. He has primarily played shortstop throughout his career but has played second and third base as well. After playing 3 years with the Red Sox, he was traded to the Houston Astros before going on and playing for Oakland Athletics and then back to the Astros before going back to Athletics and finally, the New York Mets.

During Lowrie’s time with the Athletics, Lowrie set a new Oakland record for most doubles in a season: 49 in 2017. A year later, on July 10, 2018, owning a .288 batting average with 16 home runs and 62 RBIs, Lowrie was named as an All-Star for the first time in his career.

Lowrie and his wife Melissa are involved in several community and philanthropic initiatives, particularly around veteran and children’s issues.

DJ Carrasco

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  New Zealand

From Safford, Arizona, D.J. was a right handed pitcher who excelled at baseball from an early age which lead to him being drafted when he was 18 years old right out of high school by the Texas Rangers. Choosing to attend college instead, D.J. spent one year at Chabot College and Pima Community to help sharpen his skills, which led to him being drafted again by the Baltimore Orioles in the 27thround. D.J. made his Major League debut in 2003 while playing for the Kansas City Royals and spent 8 years in total as a Major League Player.D.J. is now a pitching coach in the New York Mets organization and spent the previous 3 years as a Major League scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2018, he was signed on as a pitching coach to New Zealand’s first ever professional team.

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.

Faye Gulini

Snowboarding

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Kyrgyzstan

Faye Gulini first started riding at Snowbird, UT when she was nine years old. She didn’t wait long before taking to the snowboardcross course, racing in her first SBX event at age 10 in Jackson Hole, WY. Five years later Gulini moved to Vail, CO to pursue her Olympic dream. Gulini’s ascent to success was then swift, as she landed the results she needed for a spot on the 2010 Olympic snowboardcross team.

Gulini then rode well enough in 2011 to earn a spot on her first World Championships team in both snowboardcross and slopestyle. A top 10 at the X Games Aspen in 2011 and a third at U.S. Champs cemented Gulini as a key influence in the sport. A knee injury in 2012 put her season on hold, but then she soared into second at the 2012 Canyons Resort Sprint U.S. Grand Prix. She followed up in 2013 by landing five World Cup’s top 10s, including an eighth at the Olympic test event in Sochi, and taking the U.S. title at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix at Canyons.

The 2014 Olympic season saw Gulini qualify for her second Olympic snowboardcross team after her top-10 World Cup finish at Lake Louise. A sixth-place finish at the X Games Aspen geared her up for Sochi, where she pulled out her best Olympic finish to date, landing just off the podium in fourth.

The 2015 and 2016 seasons brought on more successful results on the World Cup circuit and two top-ten finishes at the X Games, including a career-best, fifth-place finish in 2016.