A Rebuttal to NY Post’s Pathetic Hit Piece on Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce
By Keith Ricci
Raiders HC has been a man of the community for years
This is what baffles me the most. He wrote his article, talking about Pierce from the 2000s being an “embarrassment” now in 2023, but doesn’t mention Pierce from the 2000s being an award-winning community leader.
Pierce was named spokesperson for the Giants Academy inner city youth program in 2006. In 2007, he was named the United Way’s “Man of the Year”. In 2008, he was awarded by Minority Athletes Networking Inc as its ‘MAN of the Year,’ for his excellence in the community.
From 2005 to 2012, Pierce hosted an annual free football camp for youth in Compton.
He also spent these years helping not-for-profit organizations like the YMCA, DARE, Cystic Fibrosis, My Sisters Place, ASC Football Camp, City Meals on Wheels and Make a Wish Foundation.
In 2006, he started ‘Antonio’s A-List’ as a motivational incentive program that rewarded students in the Giants Academy. He visited the students at school and accompanied them on service trips and preparing meals for the community.
In 2011, Pierce was named “Distinguished Alumnus of the Year” by Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California.
But the New York Post ignored all these positives, which greatly outweigh the two negatives they chose to focus on.