“When Earnest calls, anybody will come out for him because he’s such a good guy and he does such good things for the community,”
said Todd Johnson, a safety with the St. Louis Rams. Johnson was among several NFL players who took part in a celebrity basketball game in the Dunbar High gym on Friday night, benefiting Graham’s charity, Earnest Giving. “It was an unprecedented event, as far as the number of celebrities that showed up,” Graham said. Other notable players included some of Graham’s Bucs teammates: running back Cadillac Williams, defensive back Kyle Arrington, quarterback Josh Johnson. There were also some former teammates of Graham’s at the University of Florida: Johnson, Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder and New York Jets defensive back Lito Sheppard. The event was part of a weekend of fundraising events. Today, there will be celebrity bowling at Pin Street in Fort Myers at 5 p.m., followed by a party at Ichabod’s at 10 p.m. On Sunday, a street in Fort Myers will be renamed in Graham’s honor at 1 p.m. The street, which is conveniently already called Graham Avenue, will be rededicated at a ceremony near Jefferson Park. Graham is a native of Fort Myers and a graduate of Cape Coral-Mariner. He attended middle school at Dunbar, in the building that now houses the high school.
“I think anytime that you have an event like this, anytime you have an event that brings the community together, it’s a positive type of event,” Dunbar principal Carl Burnside said. “This whole thing is about giving back. … I think it’s always good for that type of sentiment to come to the front, especially considering we’re in these hard economic times.”