For many years, my dream was to become a famous sportswriter. I’ve loved sports my entire life, ever since I was 5 years old and Mom and Dad signed me up for my first soccer league at Macclesfield Park in Yardley, Pennsylvania. When I entered high school, I discovered my keen interest in writing and telling stories, so it seemed only logical to merge those two passions together to embark on a long and fruitful career in journalism.
I joined the Pennsbury Voice school newspaper and began to tell stories, mostly about our Falcons sports teams. Within a year I earned the first highlight of my young “career”: a story about our men’s basketball team playing in a national tournament in Myrtle Beach. It made the front page of the orange and black newspapers we distributed throughout the school. I was so excited that everybody could read it, or at least the 30 or so people who actually read the Voice.
Naiveté, I suppose.
Later, as a junior in high school, I attended a leadership conference in Washington, D.C. One morning, we went to a brunch and panel discussion with members of the National Press Club. “How exciting,” I thought, “to have the opportunity to hear some of the nation’s leading journalists speak! These are people I strive to be like as an aspiring journalist; I can’t wait to hear from them!” As it turns out, checking emails on your phone and whispering quips to your fellow panelists trump any sense of excitement talking to 16- and 17-year-olds. I left that panel discussion disheartened by the supposed “best and brightest” of the National Press Club.
Naiveté, I suppose.
That morning at the National Press Club may have disheartened me, but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. It helped me pivot away from a career in journalism to focus on a career in my other area of professional interest: finance. It undoubtedly helped me finance the Tour we’re speaking about today. And it freed me to become a sportswriter on my own watch and on my own terms.
Irony, I suppose.
In October 2018, I set out with a simple goal of seeing a hockey game in all 32 cities in the National Hockey League. Inspired by my grandmother Leona Dotson’s incredible life and successful battles against cancer, I turned my hockey journey into a charitable crusade, raising money for two wonderful organizations.
From 2018 to 2022, I raised over $10,000 for the National Hockey League’s “Hockey Fights Cancer” initiative, which supports families fighting cancer by providing meals, lodging, and transportation for those in need. Since 2022, I’ve also been fortunate to support the 11 Day Power Play in Buffalo, New York, which raises money for cancer research and patient support services for four wonderful organizations in Western New York.
100% of my proceeds from the sale of this book will go directly to Hockey Fights Cancer and the 11 Day Power Play. But I hope that this book will also inform you, entertain you, make you laugh, cry, and think. I hope that you’ll learn some of the valuable lessons I learned along the way. Together, we can Put Cancer On Ice!
Tour de National Hockey League 