Tampa Bay Bucs’ Warrick Dunn Given Top Honors at 2008 NFL Players Gala, JB Awards

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Warrick Dunn was presented with the 42nd annual Byron “Whizzer” White Award, the NFL Players Association’s (NFLPA) highest honor, yesterday at the NFL PLAYERS Gala featuring the JB Awards in Washington, D.C. Warrick was one of several NFL players honored by James Brown, host of “THE NFL TODAY” on CBS, along with “THE NFL TODAY” analyst and former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher.

The event, which recognized NFL players for their individual contributions to their communities, raised nearly $1 million, the net proceeds of which benefit Special Olympics D.C. It was the fifth consecutive year the NFLPA and NFL PLAYERS partnered with James Brown to honor some of the NFL’s biggest heroes.

Warrick was selected from among 12 JB Award winners as a result of his commitment to the nationally-renowned community project Homes for the Holidays, an annual program he created to help low-income families buy homes in Atlanta, Tampa, Baton Rouge and Tallahassee. As the primary focus of the Warrick Dunn Foundation, the program provides down payments on homes and works with area sponsors to furnish them. Motivated by the memory of his mother, Betty Smothers, Warrick launched the program during his rookie season in 1997 and has since enabled 74 single parents and 192 children realize their lifelong dreams of home ownership.

Warrick was selected by an independent celebrity panel of judges which included NEA Foundation President and CEO Harriet Sanford, Gatorade’s Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing Jeff Urban and Rick “Doc” Walker, host of SportsTalk 980’s “The Doc Walker Show” and Comcast SportsNet’s “Doc Walker’s ProView.” The “Whizzer” White Award is presented annually to the player who serves his team, community and country in the spirit of Byron Raymond “Whizzer” White. The late Supreme Court Justice was a scholar, athlete, patriot, humanitarian and public servant – the personification of the ideal to which professional football players aspire.