Opinion: 5 greatest moms in sports
Dalton King lists his top five moms in sports in honor of Mother’s Day.
In honor of Mother’s Day, I decided to compile a list of the greatest moms in sports. Behind every dedicated athlete, there’s an even more dedicated mother.
Here are the greatest moms in sports:
1. Wanda Durant
This choice wasn’t hard. She is “the real MVP,” so she has to have her place at the top of this list of all-star mothers.
In his emotional speech after receiving the 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player award, NBA star Kevin Durant dubbed his mother, “The real MVP.” After paving the way for one of the Internet’s most popular memes, this mother is being portrayed in her very own biopic on Lifetime called, “The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story”.
The movie was produced by Queen Latifah for crying out loud, her resumé for the greatest mom in sports just continues to grow.
Durant raised Kevin and his brother Tony as a single mother in Washington, D.C. She even told ESPN in an interview that when Kevin wanted to quit basketball, she told him that he would have to do some kind of activity, like taking piano lessons.
“So, once he found out it was piano, he decided he was going to stick with basketball,” said Durant’s mother.
Basketball fans, the Oklahoma City Thunder and all the teams ready to pursue Kevin in free agency this summer thank you for making sure he stuck with basketball.
2. Annie Apple
This mom has made her voice known in the sports world the last couple of weeks, and man, does she have quite a unique voice. Annie Apple is the mother of Eli Apple, the cornerback out of Ohio State who was drafted No. 10 overall by the New York Giants. Upon being drafted, she sent out a hilarious tweet to the women reaching out to the new NFL draft picks (I will let you all find that on your own time).
But even beyond her draft day tweets, Apple has an amazing presence on Twitter. Check out her twitter account for yourselves: @SurvivinAmerica.
Being disappointed in the lack of desserts, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell responded by sending her brownies. Apple has also advocated for more serious issues, like a travel reimbursement for NCAA athletes and their families.
She gets results for what she advocates for and she makes her voice known, a true sports mom. She also has a great list of hilarious quotes. My personal favorites are, “Dude, you’re an unemployed college dropout. You will not be on TV with a Rolex,” and, “unless Rolex is adding more time to your life, I don’t think you need to pay $30,000 for a watch.”
3. Wilma McNabb
It’s a bit of a throwback, but this mom made sure everyone was fed with Campbell’s Chunky Soup. Seriously, this commercial is amazing.
Wilma McNabb is the mother of former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, the third African-American quarterback to ever start in a Super Bowl.
At first, McNabb’s mother was played by an actress in Campbell’s commercials. But once when they discovered the super-mom tendencies of Wilma, they could not resist.
In further research, I discovered that McNabb even made home-cooked meals and delivered them to the Eagles when they visited Chicago. She was even the vice president of the Professional Football Players Mothers Association and runs the Donovan McNabb Foundation.
A mother who knows how to feed her boys is the best kind of mom. Wilma McNabb is truly a super-mom.
4. Sonya Curry
The mother of NBA superstar Stephen Curry may deserve some of the credit for her son’s great play as of late.
Steph, without a doubt, gets his shooting prowess from his father Dell, a former NBA sharpshooter. But his efficiency and good turnover numbers are a product of he and his mother’s running bet.
Any more than three turnovers a game, Steph owes his mom $100. But, there’s a reward. A game with under three turnovers is subtracted from his total debts.
“At the end of the season, Curry doesn’t write his mother a check; she just lets him know — usually through his wife, Ayesha — what fashion items she has had her eye on,” according to a local Bay Area columnist Ann Killion.
The effectiveness of this bet? In his career, Steph Curry has averaged only 3.19 turnovers per game.
Sonya, keep threatening your son with fashion items so we can keep enjoying one of basketball’s best talents.
5. Soccer moms everywhere
Soccer moms have one of the strongest stereotypes in American culture. A mini-van driving, extracurricular activity juggling, super mom that keeps everyone’s life around her afloat in the process.
The soccer mom has been the focus of many jokes, television shows and movies for quite some time. Soccer moms, keep doing your thing and making sure every child in your life gets to every activity on time.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the sports moms and the rest of the mothers! May your sacrifices be celebrated today.
Edited by Jordan Dajani
Featured image by: Art4TheGlryOfGod
Dalton, a firm believer that sporting events are best spent on Twitter, is an Assistant Sports Editor for TNJN and a sophomore studying Journalism at the University of Tennessee. Two of his favorite pastimes include beating his roommates at 2k and remaining in awe of the amount of stories fellow editor David Bradford writes. Twitter: @dk_writes
