NEW YORK – Kentucky men’s basketball head coach John Calipari will receive the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service in Sports on November 2.
For over 50 years, Multiplying Good has celebrated people who put others first. Jefferson Award winners are empowered to do more, and their extraordinary stories of public service inspire others to act.
Calipari said, “I’m humbled to be recognized in this way. “When I look back at my basketball career and my contributions to the community, things like this mean more to me than any other award or recognition.”
Founded over 50 years ago by Senators Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Senators Bob Taft Jr. and Sam Beard, Multiplying Good is one of the world’s most famous and celebrated companies that focuses on and celebrates public service. organization. They honor our country’s most important pioneers and change-makers, and each year the recipients are recognized at the Jefferson Awards ceremonies in New York and Washington, DC.
Other Jefferson Award winners include Arthur Ashe, Tom Brokaw, Larry Fitzgerald, Betty Ford, John Glenn, Bob Hope, Steve Jobs, Shaquille O’Neal, General Colin Powell, John D. Rockefeller and Oprah Winfrey. will be Calipari is the first men’s college basketball coach to receive this honor.
Calipari, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, just completed his 13th season in Kentucky. He led his 6 teams to the Final Four, led the 2011-12 British team to the national championship, and had 56 players in his NBA draft during his 30-year college coaching career. Helped me get selected.
The second-most winning coach in program history goes 365-101 in Kentucky, making four Final Four appearances, winning six Southeastern Conference regular season championships and six league tournament titles. doing.
Calipari is one of only two coaches to win Naismith Coach of the Year three times and ranks among the top 10 all-time Division I winners with an on-court record of 810-241. increase.
Driven by the urge to draw others to a good cause, Calipari sought to lead by example and instill servant leadership as one of the pillars of his program. He has always encouraged his players to coach them with a kind heart and has had them participate in many athletics throughout his career. These experiences paved the way for players like Devin Booker, DeMarcus Cousins, and John Wall to earn his NBA Cares Community Assist Award while playing under Calipari.
Initiatives his team participates in each year include feeding Salvation Army families each Thanksgiving, sponsoring families in need of food, and providing rent checks and gifts at Christmas. , visiting hospitals, and working at the feet of a Samaritan.
Calipari’s giving approach is based on three principles of his philanthropy. Everything he does must meet one of his three criteria: It draws attention to the cause, serves an immediate need, and creates a lasting impact. While much of what he does remains private, these are some public initiatives in which he has been involved.
- Five Telethons – 2010 Haiti Earthquake, 2012 Superstorm Sandy, 2017 Hurricane Harvey, 2021 Western Kentucky Tornado, 2022 Eastern Kentucky Flood Raised over $12 million with the team from the American Red Cross.
- With several major partners over the years, including launching The Calipari Foundation in 2012, partnering with Fantasy Camp’s experience in generating multi-million dollar and matching funds with over 30 charities since its inception have cooperated.
- In 2019, when federal employees in Lexington went unpaid due to government shutdowns, he and his wife helped these families with financial assistance and grocery gift cards.At the time, he said, nothing was more fulfilling than meeting the families being helped.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, when students were learning remotely, he partnered with Fayette County Public Schools and their breakfast programs to deliver meals directly to participating schools and sometimes to families at home, helping I helped a family in need.
He is most proud of founding the McClendon Minority Leadership Initiative in 2020. This is a coach-led initiative that provides access and opportunity to men and women of color within the athletic departments of colleges and universities nationwide. These future leaders will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and network while instilling John McClendon’s values of integrity, education, leadership and mentorship.
The initiative has seen unprecedented success with 93% of participants securing full-time jobs since 2020. In his first year of the initiative, he has amassed more than 80 coaches, MLI ambassadors and primary sources of funding from basketball, football and baseball across the country, reaching $1.5 million. Now in its third year, more than 70 leaders have participated in the program, contributing more than $3.5 million.
Calipari, the initiative’s chief ambassador, and his best friend, Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker, will be honored with the National Basketball Coaches Association’s Guardian of the Game Pillar Award in 2021. Amaker said he will receive The Mannie Jackson Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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