Ben Cohen: The Ben Cohen STANDUP FOUNDATION

The above is a collage of pictures put together myself hoping the collage would speak for itself.  My thoughts of our "miracle baby" Tim Tebow should be unmistakable by now.

And in with Tim Tebow's lot, want to throw in Sarah Palin's husband Todd.  Where would these two (Tim and Todd) be without the woman who made them the men they are today.

The Ben Cohen STANDUP FOUNDATION

Benjamin Christopher "Ben" Cohen, MBE (born 14 September 1978) is a former England rugby union player and activist. He began his professional career with Northampton Saints in 1996; in 2007 he moved to France to represent Brive before returning to England two years later to join Sale Sharks. Cohen was also a member of the England national team that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. In May 2011, Cohen retired from professional rugby, and will focus on The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation he created to combat homophobia and bullying.

Cohen was born in Northampton. He was educated at Kingsthorpe Upper School.(Kingsthorpe College as known today).

Regarding his background, Cohen has stated, “My family’s not formally Jewish... but a couple of generations back they were. I think it was my great grandfather that married a non-Jewish girl and he broke with the tradition.”

In November 2000, Cohen's father Peter Cohen, brother of English World Cup winning football player George Cohen, was fatally injured while protecting an attack victim at the Eternity nightclub in Northampton which Peter Cohen managed. He died a month later from head injuries sustained in the assault. Three men were found guilty of violent conduct.

Cohen is married to Abbie Cohen (née Blayney), with twin daughters Harriette and Isabelle (born 2008). He is clinically deaf, with about 30 to 33 percent hearing loss in each ear, and has been involved in efforts to make rugby more accessible to the hard of hearing, especially young deaf players.

Cohen is the 10th-highest point scorer in England rugby history.  During the 2002–03 season he played in all of England's matches, scoring against the All Blacks and putting in a try-saving tackle on Ben Blair, he scored twice against the Australians at Twickenham. He also scored against Australia in June 2003 as England won by 25–14, to complete their southern hemisphere tour unbeaten. In England's successful World Cup campaign he started in all but one of England's matches.

Cohen initially endured a difficult time after helping England lift the World Cup, admitting that he had lost his appetite for the game and he did not feature in the 2005 Six Nations Championship.  He stayed among the England setup throughout 2006 and during the Autumn internationals, but missed out on the Elite England squad for the 2007 Six Nations.

He regained a place in the squad for the summer tour of South Africa and raised the prospects for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. However, in May 2007 Cohen ruled himself out of both England's summer tour and the World Cup, stating that he wished to spend time with his pregnant wife.

In 2011, Cohen founded The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, Inc., which is, according to its website, "the world’s first foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying, and funding those doing real-world work to stop it".

On 15 May 2011 Cohen announced his retirement from the sport to focus on his anti-bullying campaign.

Status As A Gay Icon

Ben appeared the cover of Compete Magazine July 2011 issue and the cover of Out (magazine) in August 2011.

On 18 June 2013, Ben Cohen was named as one of the initial inductees to the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame newly established in Chicago, Illinois.

In 2010, Cohen donated a signed jockstrap to support GMFA, a British charity addressing gay men's health issues, which was sold at auction at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. He also featured on the front cover and in an interview section of GMFA's printed FS Magazine in November 2010.

Cohen founded The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation to combat bullying, and he has specifically noted homophobia as one of the bullying problems on the StandUp agenda.