The Bears cornerback and his wife, Jackie, appeared to talk about their daughter, Tiana, who was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness in 2008.

"She stopped eating, and she was screaming and really acting different," Jackie told Oprah. "That is the day that everything kind of went downhill."

Charles recalled how he got the news at practice. Tiana needed a heart transplant to give her any chance at long-term survival. She received a donation from a baby boy in Minnesota who had suddenly died.

Two-and-half years later, the families met … on Oprah's show. "In my head, I have written a letter to you over and over and over," Jackie told the mother of the young boy, whose heart was donated. "When I finally put it all in words, there's not enough -- there are no words -- to thank you. There's nothing I can say to thank you enough and for you to understand what you saying yes did to us that day, because you gave her life."

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Oprah had made a bet of 200 British pounds with CNN's Piers Morgan over who could land Eagles QB Michael Vick on their show first. Oprah thought she had won when Vick committed to her show. The bet was never paid off because Vick eventually backed out after reportedly receiving pressure from his team. The interview was to cover Vick's time in prison, his work with the Humane Society and his return to the NFL.

This past March, Vick tried to explain his reversal. "I just felt that the timing wasn't right, based on everything that was going on," he said. "My contract. The CBA. And there were certain things I really didn't want to touch on at the time. I feel like I need to be more, to do more, to be on that show. So I can talk about the past and talk about the present -- how prosperous things are, how bad they once were, and how we can move forward. I need to do more. But I think when I do go on, it's going to be outstanding."

Brees was invited by Oprah to talk about the Saints' Super Bowl XLIV victory over the Colts, the work he had done in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and how the country was captivated by his team's glorious season.

"They said 800,000 to a million people came out for our parade," Brees told Oprah. "Now, there's only 400,000 people in the city, so I feel like people from around the country just identified with New Orleans and what just happened and the significance of it."

Unfortunately, most people will remember the appearance for Oprah attempting to rub "lipstick" off Brees' face. To Oprah's surprise, it didn't come off. Turns out she was as unfamiliar with Brees' birthmark as she was about football in general. Maybe The Rock should have clued her in.

He never played football beyond college, instead turning his attention to pro wrestling and then acting, but Johnson went on Oprah's show before the 2009 Super Bowl between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints to help people who didn't know anything about football sound knowledgeable on Super Sunday in front of their friends. It was inspired by Oprah, who acknowledged she was hosting a Super Bowl party in her neighborhood and didn't want to sound stupid in front of her guests. Johnson taught her a few phrases: "The pass protection has to improve," and "There's got to be better blocking up front."

Oprah saluted Dunn for his charitable foundation that helps provide homes for single mothers. Dunn, who retired from football in 2008, was part of a "25 Years of Saying Thank You" show. Oprah had honored Dunn in 2002 as one of her "Oprah's Angels" for his foundation that was started in his mother's memory. Betty Smothers, a Baton Rouge, La., police officer and single parent, was killed during a robbery in 1993 while working a second job as a security officer in order to make enough money to buy a home for her family. Oprah announced on the show that Dunn's foundation had expanded to help single dads and was about to make its 100th down payment.

Gonzalez never appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," but the Atlanta Falcons tight end, then with the Kansas City Chiefs, spent part of his 2008 offseason taping "Oprah's Big Give," a reality show that rewards participants based on how much they can persuade others to contribute to needy people in cities across America. Gonzalez served as one of three judges, along with comedian Chris Rock's wife, Malaak Compton-Rock, and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Gonzalez met Oprah during a production meeting in Chicago. "All of the sudden, she starts asking me questions that have nothing to do with what the show is about or anything," Gonzalez told NFL.com shortly after his visit. He and the media icon had a spirited exchange about, among other things, tequila, and his rapport with Winfrey gave the producers a chance to see how Gonzalez might interact with the contestants. "I was so glad Oprah came in the room, because I probably wouldn't have even got the job," he said.

The linebacker took Oprah's couch in the summer of 2005 in an episode called "Why they beat the odds." He was with the St. Louis Rams at the time, after having spent the first seven years of his career with the Seattle Seahawks, who had selected him in the fourth round of the 2000 NFL Draft out of Harvard.

Kacyvenski revealed his trials as a child, growing up in impoverished conditions. "We were huddled up, seven of us in a tent, and just kind of basically sleeping on top of each other," he told Oprah. "We went to the bathroom in an outhouse, basically just a hole in the ground."

Making matters worse, he said, was that his father was an alcoholic. "I remember not being able to sit for a week at a time, just in so much pain," Kacyvenski recounted about the beatings he and his siblings would regularly take.

Kacyvenski is currently a student in Harvard Business School.

Coles didn't appear on Oprah's show to talk about his skills as a New York Jets receiver or the lifestyle his $30 million contract afforded him. He went on the show to talk about a nightmare from his childhood, a secret he was revealing to even those closest to him for the very first time.

Between the ages of 10 and 13, Coles was sexually abused by his stepfather at gunpoint. Fearing for his life, Coles said he never told anyone.

"He would tell me that if I ever told my mom, he would kill her and then kill me," Coles told Oprah. "My soul was damaged. I felt like I was trapped."