Athletes Who Care

Athletes Who Care

NBA

David Bergman/SI

With athletes so often in the headlines for misdeeds, it's heartening to know there are some who make a positive difference in the world. Here are 10 examples. <br><br>Growing up with alopecia areata, a congenital autoimmune skin disease that causes hair loss on the scalp and sometimes the entire body, made life difficult for Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva. Now he offers financial and emotional support to kids such as Alex Fabozzi, 16 (top left), who suffers from the disease.

College Basketball

Jason Wise/SI

Arizona State guard Danielle Orsillo has spent more than 150 hours over the last two years shooting hoops, cooking meals and playing video games with mentally disabled adults at an ARC recreation center in Tempe.

NASCAR

Bill Frakes/SI

Kyle Petty and his wife Pattie founded the Victory Junction Gang camp -- a retreat for children with serious illnesses or chronic conditions -- three years ago in honor of their son Adam. Hank Grissom (near right), who has spina bifida, and his brother Cal have attended the camp.

Baseball

Preston Mack/SI

Since 1992, Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield has been instrumental in supporting the Space Coast Early Intervention Center, a preschool for children with special needs in his hometown of Melbourne, Fla.

High School

Courtesy of Kim Yada

Taylor Bell, a star soccer player at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, formed TOPS (Total Outreach Program for Soccer) four years ago to enable children with mental and physical disabilities to enjoy the sport.

College Football

Jamie Sabau/SI

College of Wooster players volunteer at Every Woman's House, a shelter for abused women and their children in Ohio.

Pro Football

Fred Vuich/SI

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards meets with children from Cleveland's Clark Elementary School. Last spring, Edwards pledged $1 million in scholarship money for 100 worthy eighth-grade students in the city. He and his mother, Malesa Plater, select recipients from among 1,500 applicants.

Tennis

Courtesy of Liezel Huber

Liezel Huber, the WTA's top-ranked doubles player, poses with the Riggleton family, one of 20 she has helped to get back on their feet in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Hockey

Courtesy of Bob Fisher/Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club

Montreal Canadiens captain and cancer survivor Saku Koivu started a foundation that raised $2.5 million toward the purchase of a PET Scanner for Montreal General Hospital.

Golf

Courtesy of Fundacion Lorena Ochoa

Since 2005, Lorena Ochoa has been supporting La Barranca Elementary School, a nontraditional school in an impoverished community near Guadalajara, Mexico.