March 8, 2006
HOUSTON -- UCF center Cedric Gagne-Marcoux, who helped guide UCF to the Conference USA Eastern Division Championship in 2005, is one of 44 players who make up the preliminary Watch List for the 37th Rotary Lombardi Award, presented by Wachovia Bank.
The 37h Rotary Lombardi Award will be presented on December 6 at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston. A.J. Hawk of Ohio State was named the 36th winner of the award last year.
Marcoux was a first-team all-Conference USA on offense and started all 13 games at center a year ago. He graded out as UCF's top lineman and has started all 33 games in his career he has played in. Marcoux has taken every snap at center for UCF during those 33 games.
The 44 preliminary candidates earned a place on the initial Watch List by earning All-American honors at the end of the 2005 or previous seasons, or by being named to their respective All Conference team as selected by the conference's head coaches. The Watch List will be updated prior to the start of the 2006 season, in order to identify those players who have been selected as pre-season honors candidates.
Eligibility for the Rotary Lombardi Award is limited to down linemen and those defensive players who line up within five yards of the football. While the Watch Lists highlights players who have already received national recognition, any Division I player who meets the position requirements is eligible for consideration by the Rotary Lombardi Selection Committee. This committee is comprised of over 500 members, including all past finalists, all Division I head coaches and a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The Rotary Lombardi Watch List, intended as a reference tool for the Selection Committee, will be periodically updated and revised through the conclusion of the voting to determine the 12 Semifinalists for 2006.
Founded in the weeks following the death of legendary football coach Vince Lombardi from cancer in 1970, the Rotary Lombardi Award presented by Wachovia Bank has annually delivered upon the mission set forth by Marie Lombardi when she first granted the use of her late husband's name. Her only stipulation was that all net proceeds from the event be donated to the American Cancer Society and over $3.3 million has been generated since that time, including over $140,000 in 2005.
The Rotary Club of Houston, in operation since 1912, is an association of more than 350 successful business professionals, all prominent in their individual fields of endeavor, who volunteer their efforts through the work of some two dozen club committees. Assistance is provided to such diverse groups as troubled youngsters, former prison inmates, business oriented high school students, families of cancer patients, deserving college scholarship candidates and the nation's cancer research efforts. The club's most recent community project is the East End Healthy Children's Collaborative which provides much needed access to primary health care for residents on Houston's East side.