The honor for Luke comes on the heels of the airing of his STARZ docu-series Warriors of Liberty City. The show highlighted the Liberty City Warriors Optimist Club, a youth sports program founded by Luke almost 30 years ago. Over the years the program has produced NFL players such as Chad Johnson, Devonta Freeman and Terry Bridgewater. Despite the program’s success, Luke stated it was not about the recognition, but about the kids.
In a interview with CBS Miami earlier this year, Luke explained why he started the program.
“At the height of my music career, I never promoted the program,” he said “It was never about a photo op for me because I was one of these kids. I wanted this to happen organically and it took a long time for this to be exposed to the world. I wanted to show a different side of Liberty City. In this docu-series, we do something that’s never been done before. You are a fly on the wall and you get to see black men providing for their families and giving back. You’ll see African-American women giving back and a whole community coming together.”
Luke further explained how positive images of Black men are not always displayed on television. “I look at these stories like Blindside,” he said to Vice Sports before the release of Warriors of Liberty City “You never see documentaries or movies where a black man is taking care of his own kids…You never hear the story of the community helping a family that needs help.” Luke stated. You can catch previous episodes of Warriors of Liberty City on Starz.com.