Dallas Cowboys receiver Sam Hurd is fast becoming a San Antonio version of Oprah Winfrey.
Like the Chicago-based television icon, Hurd is into giving things away. So much so that his family often wonders if he's being too generous.
"We worry about him," said Jawanda Newsome, Hurd's older sister. "Everyone knows he has a generous heart and is not the kind of person to say no. I kind of get upset because people take advantage of him."
But the concerns Newsome and others have raised haven't stopped Hurd from making plans to share a recent windfall from the NFL's performance-based bonus program with family members and local charities.
For logging more than 600 plays in 2007, the Brackenridge graduate received a team-high $215,495. The program started in 2002 as part of the collective bargaining agreement and supplements salaries of players whose playing time is disproportionate to their base salaries.
Hurd's hefty bonus pushed his overall 2007 pay to $575,495, or $14,458 more than Pro Bowl running back Marion Barber received, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Hurd, who turns 23 this month, says he plans to spread the wealth through donations to the YMCA and the Boys & Girls Club. His parents — Gloria and Sam Hurd Jr. — will also receive benefit.
"God took care of me. Now it's my turn to take care of them," Hurd said.
Newsome said her brother is helping to pay for the sprucing up of their parents' home near Brackenridge. He's also covered the tuition for his younger brother Sammal's first semester at Blinn Junior College, Newsome said.
"He's always giving my mom cash to do whatever she wants with it," said Newsome, a behavior consultant/analyst who works with autistic children. "Then my mom gives it to other family members, and Sam's like, 'I gave that money to you, for you.' I can see where he gets it from."
In 16 regular season games last season, Hurd logged two starts and caught 19 passes for 314 yards and one TD. He finished sixth on the team in special-teams tackles with 15 and forced one fumble.
Hurd, who joined the Cowboys in 2005, is scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of next season. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said twice last month his No. 1 offseason personnel goal is to add an elite receiver to line up opposite Terrell Owens, a move that could decrease Hurd's playing time.
"I don't worry about that," Hurd said. "They drafted a receiver last year (Isaiah Stanback). What I do is go out there and give my all."
Newsome expects her brother to do the same to promote the Sam Hurd Celebrity Weekend/Golf Tournament June 20-21 at The Palmer Course at La Cantera.
Several of Hurd's teammates, including Owens, are scheduled to attend the event, which benefits the San Antonio Kids Exchange, the Autism Society of Greater San Antonio, the Boys & Girls Clubs and the Davis-Scott YMCA.
"I'm trying to give back," Hurd said.
Notebook: Jones reiterated in an interview with the Dallas Morning News on Monday he has no desire to trade the Nos. 22 and 28 picks to position the Cowboys to select Arkansas running back Darren McFadden. "The (Arkansas) games are played on Saturday," the newspaper quoted Jones, an Arkansas alumnus, as saying. "So I can get all of the pigs I want at a lot less cost by running up there Saturday than by screwing up my plan here trying to put a Razorback on the Cowboys. I'm not sitting here having cravings for the red."
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