Shaquille O’Neal is hoping his kids will take a shot at something different.

The basketball legend, who is dad to Taahirah, 28—whom he shares with former girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh—and Myles, 28, Shareef, 25, Amirah, 23, Shaqir, 22, and Me’arah, 19, whom he shares with ex-wife Shaunie Henderson, recently revealed that he has always told his children, “We don’t need another basketball player. At all.”

“So if you want to play basketball, cool, but please go to law school,” he said on the May 23 episode of Today. “Please go to medical school. Please be an engineer. Please be an AI inventor. Just do something else.”

Shaquille added, “So I give them freedom to be who they are. I never press them.”

The 53-year-old explained that his adult children will only benefit from his success if they choose to work hard themselves. 

“In order to touch daddy’s cheese,” he joked, “you got to show me two or three degrees.”

As a lifelong resident of Southwest Florida and former student-athlete at North Fort Myers High School, I’ve seen many of the hardships my friends, teammates and even I went through as a youth.

Many of us came from disadvantaged backgrounds, causing issues at home and a lack of adequate food, clothing and shelter. Others struggled at school, with poor grades, problems “fitting in,” and so on. For many of us, sports became a way of finding structure, a place to get away from the struggles and negativity in favor of teamwork and camaraderie.

Sports also taught us life lessons about good sportsmanship – leadership that will last a lifetime – and helped with how to recognize and conquer the obstacles that young people in our community often face, preventing them from reaching their fullest potential.

That’s why my wife Katie and I started the Tommy Bohanon Foundation eight years ago. We saw the need to empower the youth in our community and foster positive change, with sports as the vehicle.

Our first foray supporting student-athletes was a youth football camp, which continues to be our most well-attended program. Over 250 local student-athletes come to North Fort Myers High School one Saturday in June for hands-on training in the game from experienced coaches.

Even more important are the life lessons we share with the kids to help them grow into amazing young men and women.

We know the game of football will bring the youth plenty of fun and excitement, but sports alone will take them only so far. Our work at the foundation continues with education, mentorship and community engagement for the student-athletes.

We strive to break barriers, unlock potential and inspire future leaders. We believe in providing opportunities that inspire growth, resilience and a brighter future for the children of our community.

A short time after the first camp ended as a big success, Katie and I realized the need in the community went much deeper. We knew we could do more to support the youth and with that the Tommy Bohanon Foundation was born.

What was once a one-day youth football camp has now become an organization that has raised over $1 million for academic scholarships, sports equipment grants to local high schools, youth football camps, seminars and as a benefactor to other local nonprofits.

Katie and I couldn’t be happier about the success we have had with the foundation and the impact it has had on more than 12,000 youth in Southwest Florida. Now, as parents, we know even more why the camp and foundation are important to many young athletes and their families.

With the support of people like you, we will continue to make a positive impact and enhance the lives of the next generation.

— Tommy Bohanon is the president of the Tommy Bohanon Foundation. He is the Managing Director and a Financial Advisor with Baystate Financial in Bonita Springs. He spent seven seasons in the NFL as a fullback and special teamer.

Can You Believe It?

The uptick in abuse against umpires and referees in youth sports, including Little League baseball, continues to have a dramatic impact.  There is a nationwide umpire shortage. Many umpires retired during the pandemic, but others have just had enough.  

“It is extremely sad to see because it takes away from the game. It is something children should not have to see. And it sometimes makes the kids emulate their parents’ aggressive action on the playing fields,’’ said Horton Webb, a retired 20-year veteran of youth sports from Waynesburg, Pa. “It is just not safe to be an umpire or referee in any youth sport right now,’’ said Webb, who suffered a broken jaw last summer from an irate parent before quitting. 

Since  2017, the number of baseball and softball umpires in the Babe Ruth youth baseball and softball league has been in decline – with 6,229 in 2017 falling to 4,995, according to the National Umpire Association. Between 2018 and 2022, youth sports lost nearly 20,000 umpires at the high school level, according to the National Federation  of State High School Associations.  

 Videos of parents and coaches verbally and physically assaulting umpires have gone viral. In one Little League game in Alabama, a coach is seen grabbing an umpire and throwing him to the ground, with children looking on in disbelief. 

Another video shows Texas parents aggressively yelling at an umpire, who ended the game early over the disruption.  And a recent survey of youth sport officials by the National Federation of State High School Association, found that 59 percent of umpires and referees don’t feel respected by parents and spectators.  During a recent youth baseball game in Lakewood, Colorado, parents disagreed with an umpire’s call and stormed the field. Parents and spectators starting punching each other as 7-year-old players looked on.   The association also predicts that 82 percent of current umpires will retire or quit because of  unsafe working conditions. 

Tim White of Taunton, Mass., said parents threatened to beat him up in a parking lot after a Little League game.  “It is simply out of control,’’ he said. The parents disliked his home plate call. 

“These acts of violence should not surprise us,’’ said Paula Calabrese, a Pittsburgh-based  consultant.  “People are angry; it’s life on high volume,’’ she said.  “We need to communicate acceptable standards of behavior and be responsible for our actions,’’ said Calabrese.  

Already a handful of states, including Florida, Delaware, Hawaii, Georgia, California and Illinois, have established laws to protect umpires.  And Little League Baseball and Softball updated the Child Protection Program prior to the 2022 season, which includes an added section on bullying and emotional wellness. The policy was updated to provide guidance to leagues on how to prevent bullying in their program while promoting emotional wellness for players. Little League has zero tolerance for the following behaviors: physical bullying, verbal bullying,  emotional bullying, social and cyber bullying, harassment, and hazing.  

Any individual that engages in any of the above behaviors or commits violence should be prohibited from participating in Little League.  This includes player-to-player, player-to-adult, adult-to-player and adult-to-adult interactions. And if a situation occurs at a Little League event, including practices  and games, both parties  should be removed from the games until the issues are resolved, according to the Little League Child Protection program..  

Kelly Cooke said Little League baseball has been an excellent experience for her 11-year-old son, Malachi. “He is learning leadership skills and self-discipline,” said Cooke, whose son often plays pitcher and catcher with the Squirrel Hill Little League team in Pittsburgh, Pa.  

“We are a closely knit group with no tolerance for violence,’’ Cooke said. “Kids will be benched if they do not follow good sportsmanship rules,” she said.  

With two  million active players annually, Little League baseball is the largest youth sports organization in the world.  There are more than 200,000 Little League teams nationwide.  

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DENVER, Colo. (KKTV) – Sports can open so many doors for kids, but not everyone gets the chance to play them.

Between the equipment, uniforms and other expenses, it can be hard for low-income families to get their kids involved in baseball and softball.

The Colorado Rockies are working to change this by funding baseball and softball leagues so kids from these families can experience what it’s like to play these sports.

“We do over 19 camps and clinics all around the state just trying to get youth involved in baseball and softball,” said Jim Kellogg, vice president of community and retail operations for the Colorado Rockies.

Kellogg continues saying, “Baseball can teach so many life lessons.

“Really a lot of the life lessons about being a good teammate, a good person, lifting someone up that’s down, all the messages that we all learn in life we use that and make that towards baseball and our players because of their platform the kids will listen and respond to them.”

Explaining how the Rockies raise money for underprivileged youth, Kellogg tells 11 News, “The two camps that we use as fundraisers for our foundation they’re here at Coors Field.

“The funds that are raised from that go to our foundation which supports our RBI program, which is through Denver public schools, Aurora public schools.

“So we fund a baseball and softball league for kids over the course of the summertime.”

As far as the lesson they try to get across to kids who take part in these camps and leagues, Kellogg tells 11 News, “The kids learn that baseball is a fun sport, it’s a hard sport, life can be hard at times, so we try to send them messages that just incorporate this into your everyday life.

“We all have teammates, so we teach them about taking care of their teammates, being a good teammate and we just try to instill the lessons of life through baseball to these kids.

“And they like to respond to it and it’s fun. They just have a blast out here playing.

“We understand we have a philanthropic responsibility as a professional sports organization to give back to the community as do the other ones and they do a great job of it too.

“Baseball in particular we want to grow young fans and we want them to have the experience.

“We know that if you play baseball or softball as a child, or in elementary school, or in high school, or in college if you can, you’re most likely going to become a baseball fan and you’re going to come out here and love the environment that we have here to watch the best of the best play the game and if you’ve played it yourself as a child, you remember what it feels like to be part of that.

“And you know what we’re proud to be Colorado Rockies, we’re proud to represent the state and we want to serve the community.”

Catcher for the Colorado Rockies Jacob Stallings also tells 11 News how important it is for kids to have the opportunity to play this sport.

“It really can change a kid’s life forever, (it) changed mine forever when I was a kid,” said Stallings.

Stallings also mentions he loves giving back to kids in the community saying, “I think that’s one of the most fun parts of the job for me is just anytime I see a kid in the stands, or you know out and about, giving (them) an autograph or just throwing them a ball or something, I know how much that meant to me when I was a kid when I got to experience that.

“You know we’re lucky, we’re extremely fortunate to be in the position that we’re in to have gotten to play baseball and make enough money to where we can you know help those in need and I think it’s really important.

“You know the team means so much to the community, all the Denver teams do and so anything that us as players, we can do to give back.

“They come out and give us so much support at the ball games, (so) anything we can do to give back to them, we’d love to do it.

“It’s a responsibility to act the right way and play the right way and try to be good examples for those kids.”

Furthermore, Stallings’ advice for kids as he tells 11 News is, “Have fun doing whatever you’re doing, chase your dreams because you know I certainly never thought I’d be a Major League Baseball player so you really never know what could happen if you work hard.

“Just chase what you love and treat others the right way, don’t put limits on yourself. Don’t let other people put limits on you because you really never know what could happen.”

If you would like to register for the Rockies’ baseball/softball camps and clinics, or if you want to make a donation to the team’s foundation click here.

Copyright 2025 KKTV. All rights reserved.

Bentz said he consulted with former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, weekly for input on the Medicaid portion of the Republican budget

By Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle

Oregon’s lone Republican representative in Congress defended the party’s decision to attach new work and citizenship requirements to Medicaid eligibility at a virtual town hall Wednesday night and said there is a “travesty” of able-bodied, non-working Americans.

U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District covering much of eastern Oregon, answered fewer than a dozen questions submitted online or over the phone during the hourlong event. Bentz said he chose to meet with constituents virtually so that he could reach more of them at once, and because some in the crowd at his in-person town halls earlier in the year were “borderline abusive.”

Bentz started off by explaining what he sees as wins in the Republican budget proposal, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives early Thursday morning. Bentz said he personally worked on much of the 1,100-page bill.

The wins, he said, include income tax cuts and ending taxes on social security benefits; more federal spending on border walls, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, increasing wages and bonuses for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, ending tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act that “let climate activists set the standards for American energy” and what he said was President Donald Trump’s plan to “completely overhaul” air traffic control systems in the U.S.

But the most common theme among the questions posed by constituents related to the bill was about the fate of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps low-income people and families afford food, and Medicaid, which funds healthcare for low-income people, kids in low-income families and some people with disabilities.

One in three Oregonians is covered by Medicaid through the Oregon Health Plan, including half of all kids in the state and 70% of kids in Bentz’s district. More than 730,000 Oregonians rely on SNAP.

“Working or not”

The bill passed by U.S. House Republicans would lead to $300 billion in cuts to SNAP, according to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and $625 billion of federal funding cuts for Medicaid over 10 years, under the latest estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.

Medicaid cuts would be done in part by requiring those who rely on the state-federal health program and who are between the ages of 19 and 65, to work, participate in community service or attend an educational program at least 80 hours a month. It would also strip Medicaid funding that some states, such as Oregon, use to offer the program to people regardless of immigration status.

Bentz told listeners at the beginning of the event that 4.8 million able-bodied adults are receiving Medicaid benefits and choosing not to work, then later claimed that 21 million Americans are “not actively seeking work, even though they’re capable.” Bentz did not cite any sources for these numbers or respond to an email from the Capital Chronicle asking for the source data.

“It’s a travesty the number of folks that are not working in the United States,” Bentz told his online and call-in audience.

One, a retired doctor from Medford, told Bentz he was concerned about the future of rural hospitals — already operating on thin margins — if Medicaid coverage is harder for Oregonians to get. He told Bentz it will leave hospitals and clinics covering the costs when an uninsured patient walks in.

“You know, working in the hospital, if somebody gets sick, regardless of failure to pay, they’re going to be taken care of,” he said. “Working or not, people still get sick.”

In response, Bentz doubled down on the notion that Republicans are not cutting Medicaid, just imposing more requirements to access it.

“I’m not happy when people start saying ‘You’re going to cut Medicaid,’ because that’s not true,” he said. “What we’re doing is imposing an obligation for those who can work, to work.”

Bentz said he frequently consulted with John Kitzhaber, former Democratic Oregon governor and doctor, on the Medicaid portion of the bill, and said Kitzhaber put together a work group for Bentz to correspond with about Medicaid.

“I reached out to him four months ago and said, ‘Hey, I’m on this subcommittee. Would you be so kind as to assist me in better understanding how we can best approach Medicaid?’ And to his credit, he’s worked with me. I’ve spoken to him almost once a week over the past three months,” Bentz said.

Kitzhaber confirmed this on a call with the Capital Chronicle but said  the bill that Republicans passed Thursday is “immoral” and called it “a disaster.”

“We advised him on how the program works, and I warned him over and over again that the impact of this was not going to be good, especially for people in his part of the state,” Kitzhaber said.

He took issue with Republicans dangling work requirements for Medicaid as a new and effective cost-saving measure, because they obfuscate from the reality that most people on Medicaid are already working.

“The fact is, most of those people are working. Some of them have reasons for not working. Some of them are enrolled in community colleges around the state, including east of the mountains. It’s a solution looking for a problem and it’s a way to rationalize huge tax breaks for corporations and people at the top of the income scale,” he said.

Kitzhaber said predicating health care coverage on citizenship is particularly cruel.

“I mean, that is a page out of the Trump playbook. It is the politics of blame. It is the politics of hate,” he said.

Beyond benefits

In response to a constituent question about wildfire prevention, Bentz said the Republican spending bill contains a provision that would allow timber companies a 20-year lease in federal forests to “help manage these forests.”

He said any reporting that the Forest Service won’t have the firefighters they need this summer is wrong.

“There’s been some who have been saying that because of reductions by DOGE and others, that somehow we’re not going to have the people to fight the fire. I just want to assure people that the Forest Service reductions have been extremely modest,” he said.

One caller asked Bentz about prescription drug prices rising, telling him a medicine she takes recently went from $11.98 per month to $40 per month.

Bentz said it’s because of drug companies and pharmacy benefit managers, who will be reined in under a provision of the budget bill.

“We have a parcel fix for that in this great big bill,” Bentz said. “I didn’t read it off but it’s there, and it should have some impact in reducing the cost of drugs.” He said Trump’s negotiating strategy to reduce prescription costs — as the president has promised, by 30% to 80% — is to “make foreign countries pay more so we can pay less.”

Bentz said it is likely that Democrats would attack tax cuts in the bill as disproportionately benefiting wealthy Americans. Indeed, the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office found the package tilted benefits toward the wealthy, projecting it would decrease resources for low-income families over the next decade while increasing resources for top earners.

“The primary thing that you’re going to hear from AOC (Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, representing New York’s 14th District), and every one of my fellow congresspeople from Oregon, because they are all Democrats, would be that this is a tax bill for the wealthy,” he said.

He said the top 1% of Americans pay 40% of the income tax, a popular line among Republicans.

“Wealthy people are paying huge amounts of tax,” he said. “What they don’t pay in tax they invest back in the business.”

The top 1% of Americans pay the larger share of income tax because they receive about half of all taxable income in the U.S. each year, according to analysis from the nonprofit, New York-based Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a centrist policy and research group that supports reducing the national debt and federal spending.

Revenue from income taxes is also just one-half of all the tax revenue the federal government collects each year. When payments for all federal taxes — income tax, payroll tax, business taxes, etc. — are spread across all income groups, analysis shows the top 1% pay 25% of federal taxes while the bottom 80% pay 31% of federal taxes, according to the analysis. The bottom 80% are made up of households earning less than $176,000 per year.

The bulk of income earned by the 1% is not labor income, but income from investments and business, according to the analysis.

Alex Baumhardt has been a national radio producer focusing on education for American Public Media since 2017. She has reported from the Arctic to the Antarctic for national and international media, and from Minnesota and Oregon for The Washington Post.