Genesis Women’s Center is set to honor W.H. Adamson Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Josh Ragsdale for his efforts to eradicate domestic violence.
Ragsdale will be honored May 5 at the Genesis Annual Luncheon, which will feature keynote speaker Maria Shriver.
Ragsdale is being recognized for his grassroots domestic abuse awareness efforts that began in the Adamson athletic program and soon spread to other Dallas ISD athletic programs and campuses. Ragsdale call of action was for all men to stand up and pledge to help stop domestic violence.
“We began the project wanting to reach men in Dallas,” Ragsdale said in October. “We wanted one young man from every high school to take the pledge. By the time last year’s project was over my players asked me, ‘Why just Dallas, why not more?’”
Ragsdale’s call to action was noted on social media, even catching the attention of international groups. In October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness month, Ragsdale and his team welcomed women’s rights activists from Bangladesh to Adamson High School. The World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth and the U.S. Department of State helped put on the event. The group from Bangladesh engaged with Ragsdale and his athletes in an honest and personal conversation about their work and experience in the fight against domestic abuse.
Ragsdale is set to receive the HeRo Award, an acronym for “He respects others,” named for Genesis’ all-male auxiliary group.
Genesis Women’s Shelter selected Ragsdale “for serving as a role model, mentor and change agent for his high school football team and the greater Dallas community.”
