Announcing the ALS Associations Inaugural Awards Dinner, Changing the Game
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On Thursday, March 12, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham-The Wynrey Hotel at 6:30 p.m., ticket purchasers, table donors, sponsors and honorees will join together for a night that will “change the game” for so many.
A night dedicated to honoring the champions who continue to fight the battle with ALS. The evening will include cocktails, a seated dinner, an awards ceremony, a silent auction and celebrated guest speaker, John Feinstein. Feinstein is a columnist for The Washington Post, Golf World and Golf Digest. He also hosts a daily radio show on the CBS Sports Radio Network, is a contributor to the Golf Channel and an essayist for CBS Sports Television.
We’re asking you to make it your New Year’s resolution to help us “change the game” and support our efforts to find a cure for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and attend the awards dinner with us.
Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse of Baseball, showed extraordinary commitment to the game of baseball. His spirit of courage, even in the face of the devastating diagnosis of ALS remains an inspiration to this day. Changing the Game will forever secure the Spirit of Lou Gehrig Award Honorees as champions of ALS and individuals who, like Lou Gehrig, “changed the game.” The Spirit of Lou Gehrig Awards will be presented by famed football coaches Pat Dye and Gene Stallings.
2015 Honorees:
Kevin Turner – star fullback for the NCAA College Football National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide. He was drafted by the NFL’s New England Patriots, going on to play through 1999 for the Philadelphia Eagles.
In May 2010, Kevin was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Kevin is now involved in research that links chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), or repeated brain trauma in athletes, to a higher-than-normal onset of ALS. Turner has signed up for the brain registry with the NFL Brain Bank to donate his brain and his spinal cord so it can be studied after death.
Frank Orgel – began his coaching career by replacing legendary Warner Robins High School head football coach Joe Sumrall. Frank willed the team to its first of 23 regional titles. His next move took him to North Alabama, Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn and ultimately back to his alma mater, The University of Georgia. Coach Orgel’s ALS is atypical, primarily affecting just one side of his body. While he has been suffering with ALS for 15 years, he has only known what to call the disease he suffers from for the last five years. Frank’s atypical form of ALS made diagnosis especially difficult.
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The disease robs people of the ability to walk, to talk and even blink an eye. It traps them inside a body they no longer can control and ultimately prevents them from breathing as it takes their life. People with ALS lose the power to use their legs, hold someone close, and simply say, “I love you,” before their bodies gradually shut down. There is no known cause of the disease, although military veterans are approximately twice as likely to develop ALS as the general population.
