Event stays, but trophy goes
New foundation replaces Rotary Club; prize not block of granite
College football’s Lombardi Award, created in 1970 to honor the legacy of famed coach Vince Lombardi, will remain in Houston under the direction of a new sponsoring foundation created with the blessings of the Lombardi family.
The newly created nonprofit Lombardi Foundation will replace the Rotary Club of Houston as overseer of the annual award, said Houston magazine publisher Richard Slemaker III, the foundation’s chairman.
Organizers will present a redesigned trophy, replacing the familiar 40-pound block of granite that represented Lombardi’s playing career at Fordham University, during the Lombardi Award and Lombardi Honors presentation at the Hobby Center for the Performing in Houston’s Theater District on Jan. 27, 2018
“There will be more of a national approach rather than it being a Houston Rotary Club event,” said Slemaker, a past president of the local Rotary Club. “There will be a broader reach to a larger audience and an effort to go outside the white lines of football to honor other areas that affect leadership today.”
Beneficiaries will continue to be the American Cancer Society, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Hospital Cancer Center.
Slemaker said the Lombardi family’s desire to increase charitable donations was one of the elements that led to the reorganization plan.
Rather than having the award administered by the Rotary Club of Houston, which annually elects a new president who names a new chairman for the event, Slemaker said the Lombardi family preferred a permanent group to oversee the award’s administration with the Rotary Club continuing to serve as host sponsor.
The club, however, announced in late September that it would not continue its association with the award. Rotary officials said in a statement that the club would continue to raise funds for cancer treatment and research but also would devote assistance to Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts.
Slemaker said some consideration was given to moving the award presentation out of Houston but that it will remain here under the new foundation, which was chartered this summer.
“It has been a wonderful history with Rotary,” Slemaker said. “And it’s very significant that the award will remain in Houston, with the help of Mayor (Sylvester) Turner and others.”
Until last year, the Lombardi Award went to the best college football lineman or linebacker. Last year, the field was expanded to a player at any position who “best exemplifies the discipline, virtue and wisdom that defined Vincent Lombardi’s exceptional brand of leadership.”
Last year’s event also included the first group of honorees other than players, including awards to longtime television reporter Lesley Visser and the family of Texans owner Bob McNair. Those awards will continue under the new structure.
The awards program will be aired locally on KTRK (Channel 13) and by a national outlet to be determined.
Members of the new Lombardi Foundation board include former Harris County Judge Robert Eckels as president. John Lombardi, the late coach’s grandson, is an ex officio member.
Other board members include Rocky Emery of Hilltop Securities Wealth Management; Fred Zeidman, chairman of the Gordian Group; Fox Sports broadcaster and former NFL player Spencer Tillman; Andrew Malloy, a director of the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation; and Eric Felton Johnson of Franklin, Tenn.