The Inside Stuff On Ahmad Rashad

February is Black History Month. Each week we'll introduce you to someone who is helping to make our world a nicer, safer or more beautiful place. This week, learn about sports commentator Ahmad Rashad.

Ahmad Rashad, a former wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, just might be one of the happiest guys on Earth.

"If I could make one change in the world, I would have to say I would give everyone happiness," says the four-time Pro Bowler.

Ahmad was born in Portland, Ore. He grew up in Tacoma, attended Mount Tahoma High School and still has brothers and sisters in Tacoma.

After high school, he earned a degree in elementary education from the University of Oregon, where he also played football. "I always wanted to be a teacher," says Ahmad.

His success with the Ducks led him into the National Football League. He never became a full-time teacher, but one year when he was injured, he did his student-teaching at Gault Middle School in Tacoma.

When he retired from professional football, Ahmad went into broadcasting. He worked for a local TV station in Minneapolis, Minn. "I had to pay my dues," he says. "I had to cover monster-truck pulls, girls' high school basketball and boys' high school hockey."

Now Ahmad is one of the nation's best-known and well-liked sports commentators. "My job isn't easy, but I love what I do."

He is the managing editor of the program "NBA Inside Stuff" (airing Saturdays at 11 a.m. on KING-TV. He co-hosts the show with Willow Bay. "NBA Inside Stuff" is a magazine program that profiles professional basketball players on and off the court.

"We let kids see that athletes are just people who have worked very hard to get where they are," says Ahmad. "They didn't just get out of bed and land in the NBA."

According to Ahmad, professional athletes are people who kept trying and never quit. "A lot of these people were cut from their Little League teams," he says. "They spent years practicing, not just a half hour here and there."

His advice to kids: "Dedicate yourself to whatever it is you want to be. Happiness is always searching for knowledge and being inquisitive. Whatever it is you do, do it well."

Today's broadcast of "NBA Inside Stuff" features the Seattle Sonics' Shawn Kemp.

Did you hear the one? Q. What has four wheels and flies everywhere? A. A garbage truck.

Read On! Learn more about African-American history by checking out "North Star to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad," by Gena K. Gorrell.

Your words: We wanted to know how you felt about going to the library. Here is what Tae-Gyun Kim, 8, of Federal Way had to say: "I like going to the library. I feel very quiet and relaxed there. I can concentrate on my homework when I am at the library. I like to hear the sounds of beeps when checking out books. I like the library because a lot of books give me comfort. There are computers to show you where the books are. Librarians are there to check out the books for you. The library is the best place in the world."

Write to Wordy: If you could trade places with anyone in American history for one day, who would you be and what would you do on that day? Deadline is Feb. 10.

Word Find: Hidden in the puzzle below are words that have to do with black American history. Find the words from the list below. When you find a word, circle it. Words can be backward, forward, up, down and diagonal.

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