Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney received a lifetime achievement award from the Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday night. Delaney was presented the award at a gala at the Hilton Tower on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Ohio State Buckeyes legend Archie Griffin was the guest speaker. Griffin is the only 2 time Heisman winner in history and the first player to ever start in four Rose Bowls.
Representatives from the Rose Bowl Game, Orange Bowl, United Center, ESPN and FOX were on hand too. Even Chicago Blackhawks Owner Rocky Wirtz, Bulls/White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and former Chicago Bears Head Coach Dave Wannstedt came out. Jim Delaney was given the Torch of Liberty Award for the conference’s commitment to diversity, equality and opportunity.
Here is an audio clip from Jim Delany talking to the media ahead of the event. He shares some fascinating tales from his youth about integration and race relations. He also offers his guess as to what baseball must do to get back the demographics that they’ve lost.
Jim Delany joined the Big Ten in 1989 and helped create the SCORE (Success Comes Out of Reading Everyday) program, partnering with Chicago elementary schools. The Big Ten became the first conference to voluntarily adopt male and female participation goals in 1992. In 2007, the conference launched BTN, which became the first network to commit to “event equality” for men’s and women’s sports.
Click back here tomorrow, as we’ll have an exclusive with Archie Griffin, as we talk the current crisis at the University of Michigan, as well as some Cincinnati Bengals
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2