Feb. 6, 2007
Orlando, Fla. (www.UCFAthletics.com) - The Orange Bowl Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the historic Orange Bowl Committee, will pay tribute to UCF Director of Athletics Keith Tribble this Friday at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Field of Dreams Scholarship Benefit at the Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale.
Tribble, who oversaw the Orange Bowl's operation for 13 years as its Chief Executive Officer, will be feted at the gala benefit, whose proceeds go to award academic scholarships to deserving South Florida high school seniors to attend college. Florida Memorial University will receive proceeds from the 2007 benefit.
Along with Tribble, the Foundation also has tapped Broward County Mayor and Commissioner Chairman Josephus Eggelletion, Jr., Miami Northwestern Senior High School and St. Thomas Aquinas High School as 2007 honorees.
The evening event will conclude with a comedy performance by superstar stand-up comedian and actor D. L. Hughley. Recent years have featured Cedric The Entertainer, John Witherspoon and Bill Bellamy.
Through this Benefit, the Orange Bowl Foundation has been making donations to various scholarship funds that benefit Historically Black Colleges and Universities for the past ten years. In the last three of those years, the Orange Bowl Foundation has donated $70,000 to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund. Previous years have seen the Orange Bowl Foundation making donations to the Tom Joyner Foundation and the United Negro College Fund for more than $50,000.
Overall, the Orange Bowl Foundation has donated more $120,000 to scholarship funds benefiting Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Tribble has been very influential not only in the athletics community, but in the minority community as well. In May of 2006, he was selected to receive the Black Coaches Association "Images of Excellence Award." The prestigious award is presented to those in the community that demonstrate a commitment by action to serve youth in the community.
Tribble was also recognized in 2005 by Black Enterprise on its list of the "50 Most Powerful Blacks in Sports" and was a featured executive in South Florida CEO magazine. Twice in 2003, Sports Illustrated recognized Tribble as one of the most respected figures in the field of collegiate athletics. First, SI named him the 23rd "Most Influential Minority in Sports." Within SI's ranking, Tribble was rated the second-most influential minority figure in the world of collegiate athletics. Next, the magazine added in its 2003 college football review that Tribble was No. 12 among the "20 Most Powerful People" in college football.
For more information on the Orange Bowl Foundation or the Field of Dreams Benefit, log onto www.OrangeBowl.org.
For more information on UCF Director of Athletics Keith Tribble: http://ucfathletics.cstv.com/genrel/tribble_keithr00.html
For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights, tickets or apparel, log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF athletics. Tickets for men's and women's basketball games are currently on-sale and are available by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 407-839-3900. Season tickets are also currently available by calling 407-UCF-1000.
--UCF--