-First off Donald, tell me a little bit about the story of the Taylor Hooton Foundation. - THF was formed in 2004 because a promising young teenager and athlete, Taylor Hooton, made a poor, uneducated choice and became actively involved in taking anabolic steroids. This decision led to his death. He committed suicide at the very young age of 17. The THF is the only entity, public or private, in the United States dedicated to providing steroid education to kids and their adult influencers. We believe if Taylor had been exposed to our Hoot’s Chalk Talk education, he would still be alive today.
-What is the main objective of this foundation and do you think you’re headed in the right direction? – The THF’s main objective is education, education, and education. Currently our organization spends 10 times the amount of money on this subject than the entirety of the Federal Government. We have reached over 100,000 kids with this message, and our goal is to reach over one million kids a year.
-Now this is the 2nd year THF has been associated with PLAY, do you think this has been a successful relationship with PBATS? –We love working with PBATS. With the help of major league baseball and PBATS we are able to reach over 5000 kids each summer. The best part of working with the Professional Athletic Trainers is that we get to teach them all about the dangers of Appearance and Performance Enhancing Drugs and the same guys that take care of the best athletes in the world teach them how to take care of their bodies through proper nutrition and exercise. It’s been a major success.
-I know you split time with the other guys on doing the PLAY Campaigns, but what’s been your favorite stadium so far? Wow that is a tough question because so many of them are really nice. Even though I haven’t seen them all my favorites would be: Yankee Stadium, PNC Park, SafeCo Park, and Miller Park. I am really excited to see Fenway in Boston, but it's hard to compare Fenway and Wrigley to the newer ball parks. Its hard just to pick one.
-When you’re dividing the trips up next year, which teams are you going to be lobbying hard to get? – I can tell you the teams I know I will make sure I get for sure: Pirates, Brewers, Red Sox, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Tigers, Mariners, Phillies, Yankees, Marlins, and Rockies. I would love to do them all … Every team that we got to visit this summer, the Athletic Trainers and S & C coaches welcomed us as if we were a part of the team and that always means a lot to me. I would love to have the opportunity to do all 30 teams in the summer time but logistically I think that would be impossible.
-As this campaign keeps picking up steam and getting bigger and better, what are your ultimate goals for the PLAY Campaign? –The PLAY Campaign is such a wonderful event not only for the kids but both PBATS and THF. I would love to see us continue to make it to all 30 ball parks each summer, and add more kids to each event (even though that makes it tougher on the staff and security). Our ultimate goal with PLAY campaign is to continue to reach more and more of our youth with both the message of being healthy and active but also and just as importantly to play drug free.
Awesome Donald! Thanks so much for your time! I am going to be bringing you a lot of different interviews throughout the year from people all around baseball involved in the PLAY Campaign.
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