RIP Evan Tanner

If you have a moment head on over to evantanner.net to see the tribute they've set up. Lots of good stories about the man. Here's one I remember hearing about earlier this year, and shows how kind of a soul Evan was. The world lost a good human being yesterday.

A Parent Teacher Association had been working hard to raise the funds needed to build a safe playground for the 870+ children attending this low-income school in Fort Worth. A $5,000 grant that the school received for the playground had a stipulation. After raising the remaining funds needed for the playground equipment the school would have to build it themselves.

They needed 150 volunteers to do the build successfully. A parent started contacting as many athletes as she could think of. She knew that strength and stamina was what the school was going to need to get the playground built in one day. There were few responses. Professional fighter, Evan Tanner of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) heard about the need for tough guys with big hearts and offered to fly in from Las Vegas to help.

“Your Cause is a good one.” “I will be there,” Evan Tanner simply stated.

The playground build was on Saturday, November 3rd. Starting at 8am and ending at 5pm when the playground was completed. Evan Tanner showed up bright and early with a smile on his face and ready to work.

Tanner spent the first part of the day building a rock climb side by side with a parent and some teachers. After that job was done he moved outside to the site and just jumped in and moved from one task to another. Seeing each task completed before he moved on to the next. Not once did he stand still unless it was for a picture with a fan.