As I started the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation seventeen years ago one of the first people there to help me was Tom Conway. Our foundations main fundraiser and promotional event was and still is the annual Teddy Dinner. Tom was there at the inception, and instrumental in all dimensions of the event and its success. There were many situations over the years both serious and funny. Tom would bring cases to the attention of the foundation that were often of an urgent nature to the families involved. Sometimes it would be for a child’s medical equipment that the insurance company wouldn’t pay for. Other times it was to pay for a surgery that once again the insurance company would not cover or to transport a child out of state for a treatment that was unavailable in NY. Often Tom would ask if he could personally bring the check to the family rather than have it mailed just so he could tell them that they were not alone and had many people in their corner. Tom was also involved in the development of the foundations various youth programs that allow kids to participate in sports that would not normally be available to them. The only thing that out numbered the amount of laughs we shared with Tom were the amount of people that were impacted by his help. Tom loved to tell the story of one of the dinners at the Hilton on Staten Island where he was in charge of getting the sixty celebrities into a holding room. As he was trying to get them to line up in alphabetical order he wound up yelling at one of them. A short time later someone asked Tom if he was OK because of the frazzled look on his face. His response was “Yea, I just told Pete Rose to sit the hell down, I’m fine”.
The core mission of the foundation was and always will be to bring immediate relief to people in desperate need with as little red tape as possible, while caring for the preservation of their dignity. Tom was and always will be a part of that commitment.

Teddy Atlas gives hand up to Sandy
NYDailyNews.com 01/30/13

Saman was sleeping in a tent until Teddy Atlas, the noted fight trainer and philanthropist, showed up and literally put a real roof over his head. “I own my house outright,” said Saman. “No mortgage, so I had no flood insurance.” This is a sadly familiar situation: People worked extra hard to pay off a mortgage, but without a bank compelling them to buy overpriced flood insurance, they didn’t. They rolled the dice on the largest investment in their lives and crapped out when Savage Sandy replaced Lady Luck ...more




Atlas fighting for those hit by Sandy
espn.com 11/13/12

"Hold on, Mike, I got a guy coming in with a truck, hold on a second," said Teddy Atlas, during a Tuesday afternoon phone interview with NYFightBlog. After 10 seconds, the ESPN analyst and sometime boxing trainer came back on the line and continued to describe the relief effort to help citizens on Staten Island and in Queens who got knocked down by Sandy on Oct. 29.
For the past couple of weeks, Atlas has been collecting and distributing food, water, supplies, information and hope to people laid out by the epic storm surge. ...more



Atlas Dinner will carry special message for Hurricane Sandy victims this year
silive.com 11/11/12

If he had his way, Teddy Atlas would postpone his annual Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation Dinner to concentrate on the work he's been doing the past week -- getting much-needed supplies to the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Atlas and his tireless band of volunteers have canvassed Staten Island, along with other storm-ravaged locations throughout the area, dispensing roughly "three tractors worth of goods. About 40,000 pounds of clothes and 50,000 pounds of food" to communities such as Midland Beach, South Beach and Oakwood Beach. ...more



Teddy Atlas, Staten Island Superman: Boxer Comes To The Rescue After Hurricane Sandy
huffingtonpost.com 11/10/12

NEW YORK -- Five days after Hurricane Sandy hit Staten Island, a party bus with a mirrored ceiling and a cocktail bar was wending its way through the wreckage. Teddy Atlas, a 56-year-old former boxer who trained the three-time heavyweight champion Michael Moorer and once held a .38-caliber pistol to Mike Tyson's head, was walking around inside, hugging friends and volunteers and clapping them on the back. Earlier that day, he and his team of helpers had loaded the donated vehicle with blankets, shoes and other supplies, and had set out for the heart of the disaster zone, pulling over on side streets piled high with the remains of gutted homes. Everywhere he went, people called out his name. At one stop, a burly man embraced him and then dissolved into tears. "Teddy, how many times do I need to get back up?" he asked. ...more



Another noble mission for tireless Teddy Atlas and crew
silive.com 11/09/12

There is no shortage of superstars.
Not on Staten Island these days.
They come in bunches, like the dozens of retired cops and military veterans who have been showing up at Miller Field every morning lending a hand loading and unloading supplies for victims of Superstorm Sandy.
Or the Wagner College football team members who returned from their biggest win in years last weekend, then headed out to Cedar Grove to work hand-in-hand with Curtis High School teachers hauling away some of the debris that was stacking up along the streets of that water-logged town. ...more



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