October 06, 1998
The list of 12 semifinalists for the 1998 Rotary Lombardi Award will be announced on Saturday, Oct. 10 prior to the Texas A&M-Nebraska football game in College Station. Fans attending the game will be able to view the Rotary Lombardi Award Trophy, which will be on display in the A&M Memorial Student Center, beginning at 10 a.m.
College Station & the A&M/Nebraska game will be an appropriate setting for the announcement of this year's semifinalists. The 1997 winner of the award, Grant Wistrom, played at Nebraska, and the Cornhuskers have several worthy candidates again this season, including defensive end Mike Rucker who preserved Nebraska's national championship hopes with a last-second stop at the 1-yard line last Saturday against Oklahoma State. The Aggies also feature a defensive All-America candidate in linebacker Dat Nguyen, who had an interception and fumble recovery that helped set up 10 A&M points in their win at Kansas last week.
The 29th Annual Rotary Lombardi Award will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 1998 in Houston. Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Houston, the award dinner has raised more than $2.25 million for the American Cancer Society's programs of cancer research since its inception in 1970.
The 12 semifinalists for the 1998 award will be pared down to four finalists on Saturday, Nov. 7. The four finalists and their head coaches will fly to Houston on Dec. 7 and spend two days in the Space City with a busy agenda which includes visits to local hospitals and area youth clubs. The 1998 Lombardi Award recipient, as chosen by a panel of more than 300 national media members, college football coaches and past Lombardi winners, will be named at a black-tie dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Houston on Dec. 8.
To follow the progress of this year's nominees, fans can go online and visit the official Lombardi website at http://chili.collegesportsnews.com/lombardi -- Sections on the website include a history of the award, information on the Rotary Club as well as the charities involved which benefit from the dinner, individual biographies updated weekly on all of the 12 semifinalists, and even a form where people can order tickets to this year's event. For those people without access to the Internet, tickets are still available to the dinner and can be ordered by calling (713) 973-9936.