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By Sonny Jones

Professional sports needs more athletes like Larrell Murchison. Heck, society needs more people like him.

If you didn’t know he was a professional football player playing amongst the best in the world in the National Football League, you’d think he was just a friendly, outgoing guy. Admittedly, a very big 6-foot-2, 297 pounds built like a rock, friendly, outgoing guy.

Murchison has been the past half dozen years playing big-time football at N.C. State in Raleigh and in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Rams.

But Bladen County — Elizabethtown, to be precise — has always been home and still is. That’s why he’s spent time here during the NFL’s offseason helping in the community, spending time with friends and family and, well, just being Larrell. Approachable. Down to earth. Fun for a bunch of kids to be around.

His annual Community Fun Day is scheduled July 8 at Elizabethtown Middle School.

Murchison is well aware of and embraces his role model status as a professional athlete.

“If I could get one kid that can look at me say, ‘I’m actually going to try to do (something) and see where it leads’, I’m satisfied.” Murchison said. “Our community is small. A lot of people don’t make it to where I’m at. Since I’m blessed to be able to be where I’m at I want to give back.

“There’s so much talent and there’s so much hope for us. If I can do anything I want to do it. That’s my biggest thing. That’s how my mom and dad raised me and I grew up on those morals, giving back. It’s second nature.”

If I had to guess, most professional athletes are good people. We read about the troublemakers, and there’s plenty of them, but most help out their communities. Pro athletes have a lot of demands on their time and it’s likely easy to get caught up in the high-flying lifestyle.

May Larrell Murchison never change. He won’t play professional football forever, but here’s betting he’ll be a positive influence in society for years to come. Those of us in Bladen County will be the benefactors.

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

• 1971 — Joe Frazier wins the world heavyweight title with a unanimous 15-round decision over Muhammad Ali at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY

• WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: Panama vs. Chinese Taipei, 6 a.m., FS2

• BASKETBALL: Atlantic 10 – St. Bonaventure vs. Davidson, 11:30 a.m., USA

• BASKETBALL: ACC – Wake Forest vs. Syracuse, noon, ESPN

• BASKETBALL: Atlantic 10 – George Mason vs. Richmond, 2 p.m., USA

• MLB: St. Louis at N.Y. Yankees, 1 p.m., MLBN

• BASKETBALL: ACC – Pittsburgh vs. Georgia Tech, 2:30 p.m., ESPN

• BASKETBALL: Big East – Butler vs. St. John’s, 3 p.m., FS1

• BASKETBALL: Southland – Texas A&M-CC vs. New Orleans/Northwestern St., 5 p.m., ESPN2

• BASKETBALL: Atlantic 10 – George Washington vs. Saint Joseph’s, 5 p.m., USA