Nicholas Sparks

Already performed this season

In 1994, rejected by both publishers and law schools, Nicholas Sparks was a job-jumping salesman who wrote in the evenings. In early 1995, and against all odds, his manuscript was discovered in the slush pile. By October, Warner Books famously paid a million dollars for an unknown story about a notebook. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now with almost 80 million copies of his books in print, literary sensation Nicholas Sparks is the author of sixteen New York Times #1 bestselling books and is a cultural phenomenon in his own right.

Wes Moore

Already performed this season

An Army officer, Rhodes Scholar, White House fellow, best-selling author, youth advocate and business leader, Wes Moore is an American success story and a born leader – but he wasn’t always on the path to achievement. Raised in a single-parent household in Baltimore, Moore was drawn toward trouble as a child, enough so that his mother eventually enrolled him in a Pennsylvania military school. This single, determined choice effectively changed the course of her son’s life.

It is no surprise, then, that Moore addresses this very issue of choice in his compelling keynote talks as well as in his New York Times bestseller, The Other Wes Moore. In his book he tells the fascinating story of another Wes Moore – a man who shared his name and much of his personal history. About the same age and raised in the same neighborhood by a single mother, this “other Wes Moore” arrived at a starkly different fate: he now serves a life sentence without parole on murder charges. Compelled by their similar upbringings, Moore penned his book in an effort to discover how small choices make big differences in life.

Mike and Mike

Already performed this season

Mike & Mike in the Morning is a daily, drive-time, sports-talk radio show hosted by Mike Greenberg (left) and Mike Golic (right) on ESPN Radio and simulcast on television, usually on ESPN2. Besides co-hosting the Mike & Mike in the Morning show, Mike Greenberg is a SportsCenter anchor and Mike Golic is an analyst for ESPN and ESPN2's NFL studio programming. Both have made multiple appearances on Late Night with David Letterman.

Mike Golic
Mike Golic is co-host of ESPN Radio's popular Mike and Mike in the Morning show (6-10 a.m. ET M-F), which premiered October 12, 1998 and is carried by more than 310 affiliates nationwide. He also serves as an analyst for ESPN and ESPN2's NFL studio programming. On January 2006, Mike and Mike in the Morning, which had been simulcast on ESPNEWS (45 million homes at the time) since April 2004, moved its simulcast to ESPN2 (89 million homes at the time, 98 million now). Co-hosts Golic and Mike Greenberg have also made multiple appearances on Late Night with David Letterman.

Mike Greenberg
Mike Greenberg, who joined ESPN in September 1996 as an anchor for ESPNEWS which launched in November of that year, is heard on ESPN Radio each weekday morning and usually seen on ESPN each Monday evening on SportsCenter. Greenberg was named co-host of Mike and Mike in the Morning, ESPN Radio's daily drivetime show (M-F 6-10 a.m. ET) with Mike Golic on December 30, 1999. In January 2005, Mike and Mike in the Morning, which had been simulcast on ESPNEWS (45 million homes) since April 2004, moved its simulcast to ESPN2 (89 million homes).

Ben Cohen

Already performed this season

Ben Cohen, MBE, is among the world's greatest athletes. He is an England Rugby World Cup champion and second in all-time scoring for his country. He is first among straight athletes to focus his philanthropic efforts for the benefit of LGBT people.

In May 2011, Mr. Cohen retired at the top of his game to found the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation. As Chairman of the Foundation, Mr. Cohen travels worldwide speaking to students and corporations about the importance of character, respect and equality in creating a kinder world. The cause is close to his heart, as Mr. Cohen's own father was beaten to death when he stood up for an employee who was being attacked. Mr. Cohen has reached millions of people with his message through global media coverage, films and nearly 300,000 followers on social media. With his leadership, cities across the United States have passed StandUp declarations, calling for an end to bullying. Working with the UK Home Office, he has led the charge for the StandUp Charter to end homophobia across sports in his country, including broad adoption to date in soccer, rugby and tennis.