America is a country where race seems to always be mentioned: there are stories about Asians struggling with identity stereotypes, and others not associated with being Asian American. Tiger Woods comes to mind, of course, but there are others: Michelle Branch, Mark-Paul Gosselaar — Yes, Zack from Saved by the Bell — along with Dean Cain (New Adventures of Superman), and Rob Schneider.
Then there’s Hines Ward, whose father is African-American and mother is Korean. Born in Seoul, Ward plays Wide Receiver for the NFL’s Pittsburg Steelers and will play in today’s Superbowl XLIII despite a sprained his knee versus the Ravens. His records include being named 4x to the NFL Pro Bowl, franchise records in touchdowns, consecutive games with a reception, and twice being named to the All-NFL team. In Feburary of 2006, the Steelers won Super Bowl XL (21-10) with Hines Ward being named the game’s MVP.
In April of that same year, Hines Ward would return to South Korea with his mother. During his time in Korea, he had meetings to encourage social change as well as giving hope to the multiracial children of South Korea. Here’s a video about his journey to Korea that was featured on ESPN:
Children of mixed ethnicity are often seen as pariahs in mainly homogenous Asian Countries, and I’m not sure if things have changed much, but being a celebrity always helps. With all the talk lately about identity on this blog, whether it’s Asians in movies, gays, Chinese or Taiwanese, the Hines Ward story is interesting because he has publicly stated that he was once ashamed to be known as Korean. But with his successes he hopes to bring positive changes to others.
He also has some interesting tattoos: one of which has his name written in Korean and the other of Mickey Mouse. But why does he have a tattoo of Mickey Mouse?
“Mickey Mouse symbolizes fun. You never see him sad, and that’s how I approach life. When things are bad, I smile sometimes. People tease me about it, but that’s my approach — a happy guy playing football.”
Looks like a happy approach in life — and some hope — has gone a long way for Hines Ward.
(Flickr photo credit: SteelCityHobbies)
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8 Comments to “The Return of Hines Ward: The Hopeful, Happy Approach”
Bo wrote:
Phil, what are you implying in your opening paragraph when you say that some people may not know they’re Asian? I’m fairly certain that the actors you list know they’re Asian.
Posted on 01-Feb-09 at 7:20 pm | Permalink
Phil wrote:
No. It means that other people may not view them as Asian, like the first example I gave with how there are people don’t view Tiger Woods as Asian.
However, Ernie helped edit that paragraph as well.
[EDITORS NOTE: I have edited the first paragraph to more accurately address what Phil was trying to Convey.]
Posted on 01-Feb-09 at 7:31 pm | Permalink
stan wrote:
Wow, the movie was extremely touching… I don;t watch football (slept through the SuperBowl), and I had never heard of Hines Ward before this (and I live in Atlanta, Georgia!), but now I definitely feel that i can root for him.
Posted on 01-Feb-09 at 10:41 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
@Stan & all – I agree – wow, EXTREMELY touching.
Posted on 02-Feb-09 at 12:40 am | Permalink
jun wrote:
Ward is the embodiment of what it is to be biracial…
btw
glad to know you’ll be posting more regularly bro
Posted on 02-Feb-09 at 2:04 pm | Permalink
Daniel wrote:
It was sort of an exciting game. Scoring a touchdown a touchdown 18 seconds from one end to another by the defense and the last one by the Steelers. Sort of feel bad for those who betted on the Cardinals.
Posted on 02-Feb-09 at 4:34 pm | Permalink
Maxine wrote:
Phil- Just wanted to say that I thought that video was great. Thanks for posting that here! I didn’t know Hines Ward was Korean…
As a Korean-Chinese American myself, I definitely understand the culture and the difficulties his mom and him must have faced. The Korean culture is not always open to the idea of mixed Korean children. When my dad, who is Korean, married my mom, who is Chinese, he said there was a lot of initial tension between the families. They had expected him to marry a Korean woman and when he didn’t it was looked upon as a “dissapointment.” Nowadays, things have changed and the people are more accepting of interracial relationships.
Many Asian Americans struggle with their identity in this country. It was really great to see Hines Ward learn to accept his Korean culture and for them to embrace him back. Hopefully the charity he started will help pave the way for future generations of mixed Korean children!
Posted on 05-Feb-09 at 11:09 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » Filipinos in the NFL? wrote:
[...] apparently, they do! At least there is a small number who do. While we have talked about Hines Ward and his work in South Korea, this article from the Asian Journal (reposted also here at New American Media) talks about NFL [...]
Posted on 26-Oct-09 at 4:13 pm | Permalink
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