Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund delivers for community

 

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 4/18/2008

 

Thank you, Twin Cities, for your continued support of the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund. My sons Larry Jr. and Marcus and I are grateful to all of you. The Fourth Annual CFMF weekend was a smashing success. Nearly 400 people supported the two-day event.

Friday night, April 11, 6:30-9 pm at R-Norman’s Steakhouse in Minneapolis, the CFMF Benefit was a classy, fun-filled evening mingling with friends and special guests including Larry Fitzgerald Jr., the NFC’s leading receiver-All-Pro with the Arizona Cardinals; Tommie Harris, All-Pro defensive tackle with the Chicago Bears; quarterback Kurt Warner, former Super Bowl champion and MVP with the St. Louis Rams and now the Arizona Cardinals.

 Adrian Peterson, Vikings All-Pro star running back, NFL Rookie of the Year and Pro Bowl MVP was also on hand to celebrate the life of and legend of the late Carol Fitzgerald. Carol devoted her life to causes like the education of urban youth, HIV/AIDS support/prevention, and fighting the breast cancer that took her life on April 10, 2003.

 On Saturday, April 12, 1-4 pm, the CFMF Community Celebration at Martin Luther King Center in Minneapolis was a blast. Organizations like Longfellow Community School , the Page Education Foundation, the Plano Child Development Center , the National Alliance of African American Athletes, Phyllis Wheatley Community Center and the Summit University Teen Center were all awarded CFMF financial grants for the education of urban youth.

 Awarded financial grants for HIV/AIDS prevention and support were Wake Up We’re Affected, Community Fitness Today, Sub-Saharan African Youth & Family Services, the Council on Crime & Justice, Turning Point, Bridge Builders 4 Life, the African American Aids Task Force and District 202.

 The African American Breast Cancer Alliance was awarded the CFMF award in the category of breast cancer prevention and support. KMOJ Radio personality Ray Richardson provided the musical entertainment. Larry Jr. and Marcus both signed autographs and socialized with the guests. A split-the-pot raffle raised nearly $700; the winner, Shawn Connors, donated her $350 winnings to the CFMF.

 If you would like to contribute or find out more about the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial

Fund, call 612-823-8574, go to www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com, or write to CFMF at 4805 Portland Ave. in Minneapolis . Again, thanks for your support.

 Fitz Notes & Quotes

  Indianapolis , Indiana , has long been a big sports town with the Indianapolis 500, many NCAA Final Fours, home of the NBA Pacers, the NFL Colts, the NFL Combine and Big Ten Men & Women’s Basketball Tournaments. However, since Tony Dungy arrived in Indianapolis , the Colts make the playoffs every year and have won a Super Bowl.

 The city of Indianapolis is building an $860 million retractable-roof stadium that will be ready this football season and a new $2 billion airport that will be ready in October. “There are a lot of good things going on,” said Dungy. “I know the Colts are proud to be right in the middle of it. We feel like the new stadium is really going to help not only our football club, but the whole downtown area. We’ll be able to continue to have Final Fours and that type of thing, so we’re excited.”

  Indianapolis is also in the bidding battle for the 2012 Super Bowl. It costs 25 million nonrefundable dollars to make a presentation to the NFL owners and get consideration for the right to host a Super Bowl. When a city wins, that’s a $500 million payday for the community.

  Minneapolis will never get another Super Bowl without a new stadium, because too many deep-rooted Gophers alumni with deep pockets really want the Vikings out of Minnesota . Throw in a governor like Tim Pawlenty and a clueless legislature, and the Vikings are gone after 2011 when the lease expires at the Metrodome.

 Or is it because the Vikings have 45 or so Black players, many of them millionaires, and old Minnesota Nice is what it is?

 Gophers Men’s Basketball Coach Tubby Smith is serious about why the university needs to build a new basketball arena and training center. The hockey team has a state-of-the-art arena for men and women. The football team that finished 1-11 last year is getting a new stadium.

 Why not a new facility for men and women’s basketball, then? The Barn is 100 years old. Tubby wants to win, and The Barn is past its time and an eyesore for new basketball recruits.  

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.