GRS and Ethan in The New York Times
The Survivor (New York Times, 4/22/08, Sports D7)
By Jack Bell
Ethan Zohn won “Survivor: Africa” and $1 million in 2002. He was “the soccer guy” on the CBS show. But unlike so many of today’s pseudostars of reality television, Zohn put his relative celebrity to a laudable use: he cofounded Grassroots Soccer, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to educating African children about AIDS.
“I played professionally in Zimbabwe and saw so many of my friends get sick and die,” Zohn , 34, said in a telephone interview last week before departing for China, where he is taking part in a walk on the Great Wall with the Australian pop star Olivia Newton-John to support breast cancer research.
“After I won ‘Survivor,’ I found myself in a unique position,” he said. “All of a sudden people wanted to talk with me and be in the same room. I saw a unique opportunity, a perfect platform to get a message across for something I’m passionate about.”
This summer Zohn will be raising money with Dribble 2008, dribbling a soccer ball from New England beginning on Aug. 20 and ending in Washington on Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day.
“It’s part of a youth movement to help end HIV/AIDS in Africa,” Zohn said. “I’ll dribble about 10 miles a day and try to raise money by visiting youth clubs, doing clinics, appearing at M.L.S. games and hoping to unite the soccer-playing youth around the world with African friends and clubs.”
The Grassroots Soccer and Dribble 2008 sponsors Puma, which outfits nine African national teams, and Eurosport will take the top 11 individual fund-raisers on a trip to Cape Town in 2009.