Cal Ripken Jr. To Receive 2014 Champion of Youth Award

On Tuesday, November 18, at 8 a.m., the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford will honor Cal Ripken Jr. at the third annual Champions of Youth Breakfast.

The event, generously hosted by Supporting Sponsor, Chelsea Piers CT, serves as the kickoff for the Club’s Annual Appeal. This year’s Presenting Sponsor for the Breakfast is GE Asset Management and GE Energy Financial Services. Serving as Supporting Sponsor is NBC Sports Group. Bobby Valentine will serve as the event emcee, and Mark Lazarus, NBC Sports Group Chairman, will present the 2014 Champion of Youth award to Ripken.

Ripken is recognized as baseball’s all-time Iron Man. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 with the third highest voting percentage in history. Now Cal is using the platform that baseball has provided him to help grow the game he loves worldwide. As owner of Ripken Baseball, he has two minor league clubs and two world-class youth baseball facilities. In 2001, Cal and Bill Ripken established the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, in memory of their father. The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation has been a strong supporter of the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford since 2010 when the Club began implementing the Healthy Choices Healthy Children curriculum and the Badges for Baseball program, both developed by the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation.

“We are proud to honor Cal, and the values that the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation stands for. His passion, not just for athletics, but for family and community spirit are what we try to instill in our youth each day at the Boys and Girls Club”, stated Michael Cotela, the Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford

About the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation
The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation uses baseball- and softball-themed programs to help build character and teach critical life lessons to underserved youth residing in America’s most distressed communities. Founded in 2001 by members of the Ripken family in memory of their patriarch Cal, Sr., the Foundation works to create programs that positively impact at-risk youth through active community partnerships with America’s most successful youth service organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs. The Ripken Foundation uses the baseball and softball field to help teach life’s critical lessons such as perseverance, loyalty, nutrition, hard work and leadership to young people residing in disadvantaged communities. The Ripken Foundation has impacted over 1 million kids nationwide through its Youth Development Park initiative and Badges for Baseball programming.

--- www.RipkenFoundation.org --- www.Facebook.com/CalRipkenSrFdn