-- The Butkus Award reception will be the evening of January 13, 2009, at the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago. Ticket and sponsor inquiries can be directed to the Butkus Foundation at rarp@butkusfoundation.org -- Butkus wants the Award to draw attention to the I Play Clean campaign, which aims to end steroid use in organized sports. He encourages past and current athletes, coaches and fans to pledge their support at www.iplayclean.org. In partnership with Old Spice, the campaign hosted a Chicago kickoff event in July and is distributing educational toolkits to 10,000 schools reaching 12 million students. -- In an effort to assure the utmost integrity and expertise in picking the Butkus Award winners, a selection committee of at least 51 (Butkus' professional jersey number) of the nation's most respected coaches, General Managers, talent evaluators, scouts and media will select the winners. Among them: Pete Carroll - U.S.C., Nick Saban - Alabama, Pat Fitzgerald - Northwestern, John Harbaugh - Baltimore Ravens, Leslie Frazier - Minnesota Vikings, Scott Pioli - New England Patriots, A. J. Smith - San Diego Chargers, Tom Dimitroff - Atlanta Falcons, Nolan Nawrocki - Pro Football Weekly and Tom Lemming - Prep Football Report and CSTV. A complete list of the selection committee will be available at www.thebutkusaward.com by Friday, November 21. Please note that NCAA College Coaches included on our committee will not be allowed to vote for or have any contact with any candidates for the Butkus Award High School honoree and will absolutely be in compliance with all NCAA rules. Individual votes of all members of the committee will remain completely confidential.Butkus was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, following an illustrious career with the Chicago Bears, University of Illinois and Chicago Vocational School. Meanwhile, his son Matt was a defensive lineman for the University of Southern California and joins his father in philanthropic efforts.
Contact Information: Contact: Ron Arp 360.601.2991