The 2010 NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award

JIM BROWN RECEIVED NFL/COLLIER AWARD ON JUNE 18, 2010

#32 came to town!

Jim Brown preparing for a filmed interview by the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group, Inc. at Georgetown College, KY.

Jim Brown interviewed by Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group Board members Ron Butler and Eric Carter.

Jim Brown, the Hall of Fame record setting running back for the 1964 World Champion Cleveland Browns, and Founder of the Amer-I-Can Foundation to assist young people who might otherwise fall through society’s cracks came to Lexington to receive the Kentucky Chapter NFL Hall of Fame BLANTON COLLIER AWARD for giving back with integrity off the field as well as on. The BLANTON COLLIER SPORTSMANSHIP GROUP, a non-profit established to promote ethics, education and excellence in athletics joined with the KY Chapter NFL in the presentation of the award and other activities during Brown’s visit to Lexington.

The Blanton Collier Award was established by the KY Chapter of the NFL alumni in 2007 to honor individuals who not only excelled on the football field, but utilized the platform given them through their athletic careers to give back off the field. In presenting the first award to Coach Rich Brooks, former NFL star Frank Minnifield quoted Collier’s famous words, “You can accomplish anything you want, as long as you do not care who gets the credit.” Brooks, the 2008 awardees, members of Collier’s final University of Kentucky football recruiting classes who were recognized for “getting up off their knees and moving on to successful college careers and lives” after a coaching change which disrupted many young lives, and 2009 recipient Tony Dungy, have set a high standard for recipients of the award.

While many of Jim Brown’s records still stand today, the KY Chapter NFL Hall of Fame Committee and the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group are proud to note that upon his retirement, the then-29 year old Brown asked not for a gala event for himself; rather, for a fund-raiser for the Negro Industrial and Economic Union which he had founded to assist minority business owners. While Brown is still known today as arguably the greatest football player to ever play the game, and is an advisor to the Browns, his time and energy are devoted to work with young people through Amer-I-Can.

During the Hall of Fame ceremonies on June 18th, Brown assisted the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group in presenting the first Blanton Collier Awards for Ethics, Excellence and Education in Coaching to a high school coach and a volunteer coach. The award, which accepts national applications, is an extension of the group’s efforts to hold up those coaches who promote the highest characteristics of sports in a win-at-all-costs climate, in which some attempts to emulate high profile coaches can lead to abuse of young people.

In addition to working with the KY Chapter of the NFL alums on the annual Blanton Collier Award, and the awards for coaches at the high school and volunteer levels, the Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group, founded in 2008 by several former Collier players and others interested in promoting ethics, education and excellence in athletics, will be unveiling an on-line matrix which will assist in the observation of athletics programs for standards of ethics, education and excellence.

The Collier award is presented annually at the Induction Ceremony for the KY Chapter NFL Alumni Hall of Fame at the Lexington Opera House. This year’s inductees include Joe Jacoby (U of L;Washington Redskins); Chris Dishman (Louisville native; NFL defensive back); Yeremiah Bell (EKU , Clark County, Miami Dolphins); Gary Shirk (Morehead State U, New York Giants) and Coach Bill Arnsparger (Paris; UK coaching staff; Miami Dolphins and New York Giants.)

The 2009 NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award

The Recipient Of The 2009 NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award – Coach Tony Dungy!

COACH TONY DUNGY, retired head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Bucaneers has been named the recipient of the 2009 NFLPA- Kentucky Chapter's 3rd Annual Blanton Collier Award for INTEGRITY ON AND OFF THE FIELD. He was presented the award at the 7th annual Kentucky Chapter NFL Hall of Fame Ceremony on Friday evening, June 19th, at the Opera House in Lexington, Kentucky.

The NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award was initiated in 2007 by the Kentucky Chapter of the National Football League Players’ Association to raise awareness not only of the major contributions of Coach Blanton Collier to the modern game of professional football, but also to perpetuate the legacy of this “teaching coach,” who was known for his integrity on and off the field. “You can accomplish anything you want, so long as you do not care who gets the credit,” was one of his favorite sayings. He always shook hands left-handed, for the left hand “is closer to my heart.”

The establishment of the NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award provides an opportunity for the KY Chapter NFL Players to celebrate figures in the football world who are world-class winners, both on and off the field, offering a model of ethics and integrity for others to emulate. Nominees for the award are recommended by the BLANTON COLLIER SPORTSMANSHIP GROUP, an entity which aspires to provide standards, guidelines and education on the ethics of coaching for coaches of all levels of athletic competition, and for parents and athletes; to honor and hold up as models coaches who emulate the ethical standards for which Blanton Collier was known, and to provide standards and guidelines as well as assistance for those who have questions regarding possible abusive behavior in athletics.

At the NFL Media Conference on April 16th, the following introduction was given for the 2009 award:

We believe that there could be no higher standard set for those who might be considered for the NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award than the 2009 recipient. You have known him as the winning coach of two NFL teams. You have known him as a teacher, of both the men who have played for him, and his assistant coaches, three of whom are presently head coaches in the National Football League. You have known him to have widespread recognition as an individual of such personal integrity and deep beliefs, lived daily in his actions , that he has received awards and accolades from educational, civic and religious institutions. You have known him as the author of five books ; the title of the latest of these describes so well the reasons he has been chosen to receive this award: Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices and Priorities of a Winning Life. He is the living example of the truth of the statement that GOOD GUYS DO WIN –on the field and in life.

More About Blanton Collier and The NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award

Collier, a native of Paris, Kentucky, played Midget Football at Georgetown, College, where his nick-name was “Brainy.” Graduating at age 20, he became the coach of all sports at Paris High School, and taught history and math. He was a few hours from completion of his Doctorate in Educational Administration at the University of Kentucky, scouting for both Bear Bryant and Adolph Rupp when war intervened, bringing with it a story-book meeting of the high school coach from Kentucky and the famed Paul Brown, who, recognizing genius when he saw it, hired Collier to assist him in coaching the Great Lakes Navy team, and then as his top assistant with the newly formed Cleveland Browns, where the two took the Browns to the top of the pro football world. Collier then spent eight winning years in Kentucky , compiling a record of wins against arch-rival Tennessee that still stands today, before returning to Cleveland. He became Head Coach of The Cleveland Browns, master-minding their “return to glory,” with a World Championship (pre-Super-Bowl) in 1964. The great Jim Brown said of his Coach: “I was prepared for his genius; I was not prepared for his humanity.”

His college coaching staffs yielded seven NFL head coaches and a Doctor of Philosophy. He is still known in the pro ranks as “The Old Professor”-according to Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated, “probably the best of them all.” His innumerable former students include such famous names as Ara Parseghian and Don Shula, as well as literally hundreds who benefitted from his teaching and his example on the field, in the classroom, and in life.

Coach Collier’s biography, FOOTBALL’S GENTLE GIANT: THE BLANTON COLLIER STORY is available at local libraries and online.

The second annual NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award was presented in 2008 to the 1961-62 University of Kentucky football team, Blanton Collier's final UK team and recruiting class. It was presented for the manner in which they overcame the difficulties of the loss of their coach and the change in coaching philosophy in order to achieve success in life as well as on the field.

The first annual NFLPA, Kentucky Chapter Blanton Collier Award was presented in 2007 to University of Kentucky head football coach Rich Brooks; for integrity on and off the field.