David Carr is a former professional football player who was a quarterback in the NFL for 11 seasons. He was drafted by the Houston Texans first overall in the 2002 NFL Draft after playing college football at Fresno State. Carr also played professionally for the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, and San Francisco 49ers. He received a Super Bowl ring as a backup for the Giants after their victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. In 2016, he joined the NFL Network as an analyst.
Jayson Werth
Career Highlights: All-Star outfielder Jayson Werth is a former 15-year major league veteran who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (2002-03), Los Angeles Dodgers (2004-05), Philadelphia Phillies (2007-10), and Washington Nationals (2001-17). Werth enjoyed some of his best seasons with the Phillies including their 2008 World Series title where in the regular season he batted .273 with 24 homeruns and 67 RBI in 134 games. In their World Series title games against Tampa Bay, he batted .444 in five games including a two-run home run to help the Phillies win their first title in 28 years. In 2009, Werth was named to his first All-Star game, and played in his second consecutive World Series against the New York Yankees, setting a franchise postseason record with nine home runs in one postseason run. In 2013 with the Nationals, Werth had a tremendous season where he had .318 batting average with 25 homeruns and 82 RBIs. Werth battled many injuries in the final years of his career, finishing with career statistics of 1,583 games, .267 batting average, 1,465 hits, 229 homeruns, and 799 RBIs.
Jon Lester
Career Highlights: A three-time World Series champion and five-time All-Star pitcher, Jon Lester recently retired after an illustrious 16-year major league career. Lester owns a 200-117 record with a 3.66 ERA in 452 career games with Boston (2006-14), Oakland (2014), Chicago Cubs (2015-20) and Washington/St. Louis (2021). Known for his durability, Lester reached 31 starts in 13 of 16 seasons, and surpassed the 200-inning mark in eight of those seasons. Lester pitched a non-hitter against Kansas City in 2008, finished second in the 2016 National League Cy Young vote, was named the NLCS MVP, and was the NL 2018 wins leader with 18. Lester won the 2007 and 2013 World Series with Boston, and the 2016 Fall Classic with the Cubs. His six playoff wins with Boston, are tied for the most in Red Sox history (with Pedro Martinez), and his 1,385 strikeouts with Boston are the most in club history by a left-hander and fourth-most overall on the franchise list. Lester earned the Red Sox Pitcher of the Year honors four times, and also received the 2007 Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity after recovering from lymphoma.
Dwight Freeney
Career Highlights: Former All-Pro defensive end and outside linebacker Dwight Freeney enjoyed an illustrious 16-year NFL career, primarily with the Indianapolis Colts. Drafted in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft out of Syracuse, Freeney’s impressive career included 10 seasons with the Colts including winning a Super Bowl title over the Chicago Bears in 2006. A seven-time Pro Bowler, Freeney also was named First-Team All-Pro three times (2004, 2005, 2009) and Second-Team All-Pro in 2003. He was the NFL Sacks leader in 2004, the NFL Forced Fumbles co-leader in 2002, and was named to the NFL 2000’s All-Decade Team. Freeney also played for five other teams in his career including the San Diego Chargers (2013-2014), Arizona Cardinals (2015) Atlanta Falcons (2016) and the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions both in 2017. He finished his career playing in 218 games with 300 total tackles, 125.5 sacks and 47 forced fumbles. In college at Syracuse, Freeney was a unanimous All-American in 2001 and a two-time First-Team All-Big East honoree. He set a school record with 17.5 sacks his senior season and his 34 career sacks ranks second in school history.
Colin Jost
Career Highlights: Comedian, actor, and writer Colin Jost has been a writer for NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” since 2005 and the co-anchor of “Weekend Update” since 2014. Jost served as one of the show’s co-head writers from 2012 to 2015 and came back as one of the show’s head writers in 2017. A graduate of Harvard in 2004, Jost started as a reporter/copy editor for his hometown Staten Island Advance, and then became a writer for the short-lived Nickelodeon animated show “Kappa Mikey.” In 2005, he got the writing position with “Saturday Night Live.” In October 2021, Jost broke Seth Meyer’s record for being the longest “Weekend Update” anchor. Jost has also worked in other comedy roles as he has performed as a stand-up comedian, and appeared on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” TBS, and HBO, and has also appeared at numerous comedy festivals. He has written screenplays and has written for numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, The Huffington Post, The New Yorker and Radar. Jost also released a memoir in 2020 titled, “A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir,” which received strong reviews and was on the New York Times Bestseller List.
The Miz
Career Highlights: “The Miz” is a professional wrestler, actor and television personality who was first recognized as a participant on MTV’s reality show “The Real World: Back to New York.” With given name Michael Mizanin, he went on to participate on its spinoff “Real World/Road Rules Challenge.” Mizanin parlayed his reality television fame into a legitimate WWE career under the ring name “The Miz.” Mizanin found tag team success alongside John Morrison early in his career, he then broke out to win the “Money in the Ladder Match” in 2010. He defeated Randy Orton four months later to become WWE Champion. Mizanin has won the WWE Championship twice, the Intercontinental Championship eight times, the United States Championship twice, in addition to eight tag team titles. In addition to his pro wrestling career, Mizanin has starred in numerous films and television shows on both the big and small screens including “The Campaign,” “The Marine 3: Homefront,” “The Marine 5: Battleground,” “The Marine 6: Close Quarters,” “Santa’s Little Helper,” “Fear Factor,” “Fighting with My Family,” to name a few. He has also starred in his own primetime reality show, “Miz and Mrs.,” alongside his wife Maryse and two daughters.
Jason Scheff
Career Highlights: Singer, songwriter and bassist Jason Scheff is best known for his more than 30 years with the rock band Chicago. Scheff joined the band when singer Peter Cetera left in 1985. Scheff’s first album was “Chicago 18” and the single “Will You Still Love Me?” (he sang the lead) did very well, cementing his belonging with the band. Scheff also contributed as a bass player and composer including such songs as “What Kind of Man Would I Be?” and “If It Were You.” Scheff officially left Chicago in 2016. In 2019, he joined a trove of artists making up a super group under the “It was 50 Years Ago Today” branding. That tour saw Scheff, Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Joey Molland of Badfinger, and Denny Laine of Wings and The Moody Blues, and The Monkee’s Mickey Dolenz in celebration of the Beatles “White Album.”
Scheff joined another band of legends in 2020: “Generation Radio” with Dean Castronovo, former lead singer/drummer of Journey, Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, Steve Ferrone, drummer of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and Chris Rodriguez and Tom Yankton to bring 80’s rock and classic music back to life with hits from their former bands.
Derek Carr
Career Highlights: A three-time Pro Bowler, Derek Carr is starting his ninth season as quarterback of the Las Vegas/Oakland Raiders after leading the Raiders to the NFL postseason last year. The younger brother of former NFL quarterback David Carr, Derek Carr ranks first in Raiders history with 31,700 passing yards and is the only player in team history with four consecutive 4,000-yards passing seasons. Over the past three seasons, Carr set career highs in passing yards (4,804 in 2021), pass completions (428 in 2021), yards per attempt (7.9 in 2019 & 2020), completion percentage (70.4 in 2019) and passer rating (101.4 in 2020). He holds numerous Raiders career records including touchdown passes (193), pass completions (2,896), pass attempts (4,456), pass completion percentage (65%), lowest interception percentage (1.9%), most game-winning drives (29) to name a few. Carr played four collegiate seasons at Fresno State where he established 27 school records and 21 Mountain West Conference records over his career. He was a two-time All-American selection and two-time Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year.
CC Sabathia
Career Highlights: Former major league left-handed pitcher CC Sabathia is a six-time All-Star, a Cy Young winner and a World Series Champion with the New York Yankees in 2009. A beloved 19-year MLB veteran, Sabathia played for Cleveland (2001-08), a half season with Milwaukee (2008), before finishing the final 11 years of his career with the Yankees (2009-19). When he retired, Sabathia led all active MLB players in career wins (251), career innings pitched (3,577.1), and career strikeouts (3,093). A three-time Warren Spahn Award winner (best left-hander), Sabathia also was a two-time MLB wins leader and two-time shutouts leader. Sabathia enjoyed his best years from 2005 to 2012 when he was the winningest pitcher in baseball. He also posted a cumulative record of 137-67 with a 3.24 ERA, which included five straight seasons of 17+ wins from 2007 to 2011. During that timeframe, Sabathia averaged more than 220 innings pitched and 200 strikeouts per season, started 257 games and posted 173 quality starts, received four All-Star nods, and won the 2007 Cy Young honor. He was also the 2008 National League shutouts leader. Sabathia recently was given a new MLB role as a Special Assistant to the Commissioner in April 2022.
Canelo
Career Highlights: One of the greatest pound for pound boxers, Canelo Álvarez has held multiple world boxing championships in four different weight classes and has been recently ranked as the world’s best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec, Ring Magazine, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Álvarez is the first boxer in history to become the undisputed champion at super middleweight, having held the WBA (Super), WBC and Ring titles since 2020, the WBO title since May 2021 and the IBF title since November 2021. Known as a strong counterpuncher who is able to exploit his opponents’ guard while avoiding punches with lots of head and body movement, Álvarez’ impressive record includes 61 total fights with 57 wins (39 by knockout), two draws and two losses. His other titles were the WBA (Unified), WBC and Ring light middleweight titles (2011 to 2013); the WBC (twice), IBF, Ring and lineal middleweight titles (2015 to 2021); WBO light middleweight title (2016 to 2017); and the WBO light heavyweight title in 2019.