April 18, 2013
After a successful 2012 football season highlighted by a trip to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) national title game, Sam Houston State Head Football Coach Willie Fritz will have the opportunity to honor the community that support the Bearkat players and coaching staff. Liberty Mutual Insurance will present four charities selected by Coach Fritz and the Sam Houston State Alumni Association with a combined $70,000 to support their programs in honor of his 2012 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. Liberty Mutual will present Coach Fritz with his trophy and representatives from his beneficiary charities and alumni association with commemorative checks at this evening’s Bearkat Football Experience and Orange-White Spring Game beginning at 6 p.m. at Pritchett Field.
The Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award is presented annually to one head football coach in each of the four NCAA divisions who best exemplify sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and excellence on and off the field. Each winning coach receives $50,000 to donate to his favorite charities, and $20,000 in scholarship for his school’s alumni association. Since 2006, the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award has celebrated the 25 coaches by donating $1.75 million to nearly 100 charities and college alumni scholarship funds.
Coach Fritz’s award will positively touch thousands of individuals and families through the four organizations he has chosen to support. The Lone Survivor Foundation, founded by Retired Navy Seal Marcus Luttrell in 2010 to restore, empower, and renew hope for America’s wounded service members and their families through health, wellness and therapeutic support, will receive a $15,000 donation; as will the Huntsville chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Additionally, $10,000 donations from Liberty Mutual will be made to Friday Harbour, which provides free temporary housing for cancer patients and their caregivers as they seek treatment at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Texas Children’s Cancer Center in Houston, and the Boys & Girls Club of Walker County.
“There are many things on the field to celebrate about our team’s 2012 season, but what I am most proud of is our work off the field – in the classrooms and local community,” said Coach Fritz. “That is what makes receiving the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year award so special – it celebrates the greater good that a football program can mean to its alumni, fans, and community.”
In addition to supporting Coach Fritz’s chosen charities, Liberty Mutual Insurance will award $20,000 to the Sam Houston State Alumni Association to support academic scholarship and programming. Sam Houston Director of Alumni Relations Charles Vienne said, “Coach Fritz is a shining example of commitment to academic success and on-field performance of his Bearkat players. We are grateful to Liberty Mutual Insurance for recognizing Coach Fritz and for their generous contribution which will be felt all across the Sam Houston State campus.”
In three years since arriving in Huntsville, Coach Willie Fritz built the Sam Houston State Bearkats from a sub-.500 program to 31 victories and back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division I (FCS) national championship game for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Coach Fritz’s student-athletes have enjoyed success in the classroom as well. In his first two seasons, 70 Bearkats were named to the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll, and in 2011 Sam Houston State placed seven players on the Academic All-Southland Conference team, the most for any school. Fritz’s commitment to the Huntsville community can also be seen through the culture of community responsibility he instills in his players and staff. In addition to the charities supported through his award, Fritz and his team have participated in canned food drives for the Good Shepherd Mission in Huntsville, fundraisers for the Ronald McDonald House, and weekly visits to local schools to read with children.
“Coach Fritz embodies the qualities that it takes to lead a college football program to success on the field, in the classroom and in the community,” said James MacPhee, senior vice president and Chief Marketing Officer, Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance. “Honoring him with a trophy is wonderful, but providing these charitable and scholarship gifts throughout his community and to the university alumni association is the true reward of our Coach of the Year program.”
About Liberty Mutual Insurance
"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified global insurer and the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2011 direct premiums written as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Liberty Mutual Insurance also ranks 84th on the Fortune 100 list of largest U.S. corporations, based on 2011 revenue. The company employs over 50,000 people in more than 900 offices throughout the world.
The sixth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual (libertymutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile, homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual life insurance. The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 15,000 companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.
Press Contacts:
Glenn Greenberg
Liberty Mutual Insurance
617-574-5874
glenn.greenberg@libertymutual.com
Sarah Smedley
Ketchum Sports & Entertainment
212-796-9813
sarah.smedley@ketchum.com
