Jason LaBarbera: Class Act
By Wyatt Earp | October 8, 2011
You can keep your baseball players, football felons, and basketball thugs; I’ll look for my heroes on the ice.
This season, [Jason LaBarbera] the Phoenix Coyotes backup goalie is using his mask to pay tribute to someone he never met yet holds a great deal of respect for: NFL star turned war hero Pat Tillman.
“To see him, as a professional athlete, stop doing what he had worked his whole life toward to do something he thought was right — join the Army and go over and do what he did — is a pretty amazing thing,” LaBarbera said. “Nobody else can say that. It’s a pretty special thing he did, so this is a representation of what he did and everyone that’s fighting over there.”
For every win he gets during the 2011-12 season, he plans to donate $420 – Tillman’s number was 42 – to the Pat Tillman Foundation. It was started by Pat’s widow, Marie, and provides support to military service members and their families.
That’s really cool. I always liked the Coyotes – since they used to be the Winnipeg Jets – but I’ll really be cheering them on now.
Topics: Ice Hockey | 11 Comments »
October 8th, 2011 at 9:39 am
OK, even though I don’t watch hockey, this is entirely cool beyond words!!
Now I am hoping the Coyotes go undefeated!
October 8th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Danny – Yeah, it’s a great gesture.
October 8th, 2011 at 10:50 am
Thank you for posting this, Wyatt. It’s encouraging to see a a man stand up for a hero like Pat Tillman and care about his family in such a tender way.
October 8th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Great story!
So glad hockey is back in season…I hate when the season ends.
October 8th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Piper – It’s one of the reason I love hockey. Most of the players are down to earth.
RT – Kyle and Erik are playing fantasy hockey with us this year. So far, they’re hooked.
October 8th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
I actually was at the Cardinals pregame ceremony where they retired Tillman’s number a couple of years ago. The visiting team during their home opener in Tempe? The Patriots…
I thought there was a nice dichotomy to that
October 8th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
“Like”
October 9th, 2011 at 12:58 am
I’ll root for them as long as they’re not playing the Wings.
October 9th, 2011 at 1:22 am
I thought we were going to get to see the mask tonight since the Sharks put up 6 goals against Smith, but they did not bring in LaBarbera.
October 9th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Fenway – Karma.
Ingineer66 – Heh.
Bill R. – Fair enough. Gotta support your team, too.
Ingineer66 – I thought that was odd, too. Why keep him in during the shelling?
October 9th, 2011 at 10:56 pm
Salute to Mr. LaBarbera!