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University of Minnesota Athletics
Coach Kill Nominated for National Award
2/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota Head Football Coach Jerry Kill has been named one of five finalists for the 2011 Uplifting Athletes Rare Disease Champion Award. The honor is presented annually to recognize a leader in the world of college football who has realized their potential to make a positive and lasting impact on the rare disease community. More than 30 million Americans are affected by rare diseases.
The third annual award winner will be determined by an online vote beginning Tuesday, Feb. 1. The Champion will be announced at a public awards ceremony at the end of the month with details to be released at a later date. Previous winners include American Football Coaches Association Executive Director, Grant Teaff (2009); and Dickinson College Quarterback, Ian Mitchell (2010).
After being diagnosed with kidney cancer, a rare disease, during his tenure at Southern Illinois University, Head Coach Jerry Kill started the Coach Kill Cancer Fund to assist low-income southern Illinois residents with medical costs due to cancer or other childhood diseases. Kill says he doesn't want his legacy to be what he accomplished on the field. He wants to continue to inspire people battling cancer.
"I think I'm proof that you can have a disability and still conquer your dreams," Kill says. "I will continue to give back and tell others that they too can survive cancer."
The other 2011 finalists: North Carolina State Offensive Coordinator Dana Bible; UCLA Running Back Derrick Coleman; Princeton Running Back Jordan Culbreath; and Wisconsin Quarterback Scott Tolzien. To read each finalist's personal story and cast your vote for this year's Champion, log onto: www.upliftingathletes.org/vote.
About Uplifting Athletes: Uplifting Athletes is a full service national nonprofit organization aligning college football with rare diseases and raising them as a national priority through research, outreach, education and advocacy. What makes Uplifting Athletes unique is that our university chapters are run by current football student-athletes, providing them with an opportunity to gain management and leadership skills while learning how to leverage their assets and abilities to make a positive and lasting impact. Each chapter adopts one out of approximately 7,000 rare diseases (such as ALS, Aplastic Anemia, CMT, cystic fibrosis, Ehlers-Danlos, Ewing's Sarcoma, Kidney Cancer, Leukemia, MS, Neimann Pick Type-C, Neuroblastoma, pancreatic cancer, etc.).
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