Orange Bowl Hall of Honor inducts a corporation
The Orange Bowl Committee will install to its Hall of Honor this year, Oklahoma quarterback Steve Davis, Alabama tackle John Hannah and … the FedEx Corp.
Huh?
The corporate-sponsored Regions Bank Orange Bowl Hall of Honor is honoring FedEx, the express delivery company that title sponsors the Orange Bowl game. The corporation – and Davis and Hannah -- will be honored at the AvMed Coaches Luncheon on Jan. 2. And my favorite part of the press release announcing the inductees: “The trio will then be inducted into the Hall of Honor during the 74th Annual FedEx Orange Bowl on January 3, 2008.”
The trio.
The Hall has a lofty roster that includes Joe Namath, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Joe Paterno, Tom Landry and Howard Schnellenberger and includes journalists and NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol, who are in the “contributor” category.
But FedEx’s induction marks a first for a corporation. The company is the longest continuous bowl sponsor, Orange Bowl Committee spokesman Larry Wahl said.
“They’ve been as loyal to us as we’ve been to them,” Wahl said, even as a he chuckled a bit. “I don’t believe there’s another [corporation],” he said as he scanned the list of 72 inductees.
“It’s kind of cool, isn’t it?” Wahl said. “It’s unique.”
Jim Andrews, editorial director of the IEG Sponsorship Report, doesn’t know of any others, but he bets there are some.
What’s next? AvMed, the luncheon sponsor, in the Hall? Regions Bank in the Regions Bank Hall of Honor?
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
