AMN MAG, Issue #20 AMN MAG, Issue #20 | Page 4

CONTRIBUTOR Beverly Kearney Sports cOach, Life Skills Coach, Motivational SpeakEr, Mentor 2012 BET Honors recipient, founder of nonprofit—pursuit of dreams Beverly Kearney PURSUIT of DREAMS Foundation WEB: http://www.bevkearneypursuitofdreams.com Beverly Kearney, affectionately known as “Bev” is a dynamic woman! Her passion and gift for coaching and mentoring has inspired some of the finest athletes to achieve their greatest successes. This includes over fifteen Olympians winning seven Olympic medals, three of which were gold. The prestigious International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame inductee boasts a record of seven national championships—the highest among African-American coaches in all colligate Division 1 Sports, and second among women coaches. She has most recently been honored with the BET Legacy Award for Education along side the likes of Maya Angelou, Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee, Mariah Carey and the Tuskegee Airmen. Additionally, she’s been awarded the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame award, the “Lifetime Achievement Award” for Auburn University marking only the second time in history that a woman has received that award and the first African-American in history to receive the award. Woman’s Day Magazine named her as one of their “50 Women on a Mission” along with such notables as Michelle Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Angelina Jolie! Bev served at Head Coach of the University of Texas Women’s Track and Field for twenty years. She also served as the Head Coach at University of Florida and University of Toledo and Assistant Coach at University of Tennessee and Indiana State University. The men and women she has coached throughout her 30-year career stand out as America’s best athletes with over a 95% graduation rate and a total of 250 All-American’s calling her their coach. Beyond her work as a Head Coach, Beverly founded Pursuit of Dreams, a non-profit organization providing intervention resources, motivation, and guidance for people from all walks of life. The organization launched a successful motivational mentoring and networking program called “Intimate Conversations with Greatness.” The program utilizes trailblazers in athletics, business, politics and the entertainment community to help people, especially youth and college aged students, achieve nothing less than greatness. And Bev knows plenty about defying odds and achieving personal greatness; she’s survived homelessness at 17, and a near fatal car accident in 2002 which left doctors assuring her that there was a very slim chance she would ever walk again—clearly, they didn’t know Bev! Not only did she walk again but ultimately added two more national championships to her record! In recognition of Mother’s Day, Bev Kearney returns to AMN MAG to share in this issue her “Bev’s Words of Wisdom for What It’s Worth” tribute to mothers titled, “A Perfect Mother?” . 3 | amn magazine