Max Starks has a vision

By Stephanie Kuzydym, Orlando Sentinel

9:42 p.m. EDT, June 17, 2011

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Max Starks has a vision.

He wants to help educate the estimated 20 percent of people in the Orlando market who can't read.

It's a dream fueled by hometown passion.

It's a future that doesn't have a defined date, but Phase 1 is complete.

And according to Starks, it's a vision the mayor is happy to see.

In the coming years, Starks announced Friday at the Butler Balcony in the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel, he will build the Max Starks Education and Sports Center at a site still to be determined in the Greater Orlando area.

Starks plans on putting heavy emphasis on the "education" part of his center. It won't just be a gym with courts or a place for after-school recreation programs.

One vision is a mini-television studio that teaches children how to run the equipment and produce a show and convey to them first-hand what a press conference is like or how to be a reporter.

"Showing them a lot of multi-faceted assets inside of a given field," said Starks, who played for Lake Highland Prep and the University of Florida. "Not just saying, because you're a football player, that's where the media comes in. No, media also comes in from different aspects."

Starks wants to prepare children that if sports doesn't work out, there is something else they could do.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-max-starks-sports-complex-orlando-20110617,0,5226967.story