The famous John Wooden once said, "Sports do not build character. They reveal it." With the scandals professional athletes are becoming involved in today, a serious character problem seems to exist in the sports world. Too many athletes are becoming involved in illegal and immoral activity. It is the public relations professionals job to be ahead of these problems and handle them before they become out of control. This work speaks to how to successfully manage and mitigate these scandals.

In our society, the influence of professional athletes is immense. They impact the lives of children and many of us still admire them as role models. If these same athletes demonstrate immoral and illegal behavior, then we need to be concerned. Social media is ever present, and in order to prevent our children and society from becoming exposed to these scandals, public relations professionals need to step up and handle them correctly.

To investigate how and why these scandals become so out of control, the author researched and analyzed three high profile cases involving professional athletes, the impact the cases had on society and on their image as athletes. The author also examined the role of social media and the impact it had in spreading awareness of these scandals. Lastly, the author offers recommendations to sports public relations professionals on how to successfully represent professional athletes in matters of crisis management.