Hines Ward

Highlights

He was MVP of Super Bowl XL for the winning Pittsburgh Steelers team; He is the Steelers all-time leading receiver; He graduated from the University of Georgia

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Hines E. Ward, Jr. (born March 8, 1976 in Seoul, South Korea) is a Korean-born African American football player who currently plays wide receiver for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. He was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL. Recently, he has become an advocate for ethnic minorities in South Korea.

At Forest Park High School in Forest Park, Georgia, Ward showcased his athletic skills as a quarterback and was a two-time Clayton County Offensive Player of the Year. He earned All-American honors from Super Prep, Blue Chip Illustrated & USA Today, as well as All-State & Super Southern Top 100 honors. Ward was also an excellent student and graduated with a 3.81 GPA.

As a wide receiver for the University of Georgia Bulldogs (1995-1998), Ward's 144 career receptions for 1,965 yards placed him second in team history. He also played tailback and quarterback, and totalled 3,870 all-purpose yards, second only to Herschel Walker in Bulldogs history. He received his bachelor's degree in consumer economics from UGA, where he became a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

Hines Ward's versatility has served him well as a professional wide receiver. Since being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft, he has earned three team Most Valuable Player (MVP) selections. He is also a four-time consecutive NFL Pro Bowl selection (2001-2004). He also had a streak of 4 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, which would have likely been extended in the 2005 NFL season if he had played in the one game he missed for the Steelers due to injury. In 2002, he set a Steelers franchise record for receptions (112), and touchdowns (12), and was named to his first of two consecutive All-NFL teams. He is widely considered the best blocking receiver in the NFL.

On November 27, 2005, Ward became the Steelers all-time leading receiver with his 538th catch against the Browns on Sunday Night Football. The Steelers won 34-21. He is also renowned as a terrific post-season receiver, accumulating 57 receptions, 761 yards, and 8 receiving touchdowns in 10 post-season appearances (including his Super Bowl XL appearance, in which he was named the MVP).

On February 5, 2006, Ward was named MVP in Super Bowl XL as the Pittsburgh Steelers won 21-10. Ward scored a 43 yard touchdown in the 4th quarter, thrown by fellow wide receiver Antwaan Randle El. Overall, Ward had five receptions for 123 yards and one TD and one rush for 18 yards.

Ward resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Simone and his son Jayden.  He co-owns a bar in Pittsburgh's South Side called "The Locker Room".

As a figure for social change Ward's mother is Korean and his father  is African-American. In 2006, Ward became the first Korean-American to win the Super Bowl MVP award. This achievement threw him into the media spotlight in South Korea, where racially-mixed people often face discrimination.

From April 3 through May 30, 2006, Ward returned to his birthplace of Seoul for the first time since his parents moved to the United States when he was one year old. Ward used his celebrity status to arrange "hope-sharing" meetings with multiracial Korean children and to encourage social and political reform. Ward cried when describing the discrimination he faced. At one hope-sharing meeting, he told a group of children, "If the country can accept me for who I am and accept me for being a Korean, I'm pretty sure that this country can change and accept you for who you are." On his final day in Korea, he donated $1 million USD to create the Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation, which the AP called "a foundation to help mixed-race children like himself in South Korea, where they have suffered discrimination."

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