Steve Patterson Award
"Quite appropriate that an award of this type, one that represents someone committed to giving, be named after Steve Patterson, who truly spent his life giving. When I think of Steve, the saying, "you make a living by what you get and you make a life by what you give" along with "you can give without loving but you can't love without giving," signify the man and the life that Steve Patterson was committed to being in sports and in life."--Coach John Wooden
The Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy
For over a decade, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has supported the growth of philanthropy through professional sports and has encouraged excellence in the field. In conjunction with our grantee the Sports Philanthropy Project, we established this award in 2005 to acknowledge professional sports organizations and individual sports philanthropies that have made an exceptional effort in deploying all their unique resources toward a mission that serves and improves the lives of others.
With the launch of the 6th annual award, RWJF will administer the award in-house for the first time. We remain committed to the field of sports philanthropy and like Steve Patterson, support those who have a vision that is bigger than they are.
Each year we anticipate a spirited competition. Winners will join an already impressive list of past champions which include: the Philadelphia Eagles Youth Partnership (2005), the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation (2006), the Memphis Grizzlies Charitable Foundation (2007), The Moyer Foundation (2007), the San Francisco Giants Community Fund (2008), the Steve Nash Foundation (2008), the Marvin Lewis Community Fund (2009) and the Red Sox Foundation (2009).
Steve taught us not to wait for excellence to reveal itself, but to seek it out and inspire it in the hearts and souls of others. To him, that was the essence of coaching. We offer this award to celebrate Steve's life and to continue his legacy.
