Football To Pick Up Pair Of Awards In Orlando
Dec 7, 2005 | Football
Dec. 7, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The 2005 Tulane University football will be honored in a pair of nationally-televised events as the Green Wave will receive the 2005 Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award on Thursday and the Football Writers of America Association's Annual Courage Award on Friday.
Both events will take play in Orlando, Fla., with the ESPN/Home Depot College Football Awards Show scheduled to air live on ESPN beginning at 6 p.m. (CST). Friday's Cingular ABC Sports All-America Team Celebration, meanwhile, will be shown tape-delayed on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"In coaching, we all stress to our players that adverse situations make stronger student-athletes and strong people," Tulane head coach Chris Scelfo said. "This group of players exemplified the ability to overcome adversity and to persevere through the largest natural disaster in our nation's history while representing themselves, our city and our university."
The Tulane football team was selected for the 2005 Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award and FWAA Courage Award after Hurricane Katrina devastated the team's home city of New Orleans in August, forcing the program to abandon its campus. As a result, Tulane played 11 games in 11 different stadiums, including "home" games in six different cities, and endured countless logistical challenges in an effort to fulfill the request of University President Scott Cowen to "carry the torch, be the face and represent the name" of Tulane University.
Accepting Thursday's award on behalf of the Green Wave team will be Scelfo, offensive lineman Matt Traina and linebacker Brandon Spincer. On hand for Friday's FWAA banquet will be Scelfo, safety Sean Lucas, linebacker Antonio Mason, offensive lineman Chris McGee, wide receiver Bubba Terranova and defensive back Bruce Youmans.
The Tulane football program, which consists of 120 players, coaches and staff, evacuated New Orleans on Aug. 28, one day before the hurricane hit New Orleans in what was one of the worst natural disaster in American history. The team endured a 10-hour bus ride to Jackson, Miss., where players slept on air mattresses in the Jackson State University gym for two nights - one of which was spent without power or running water.
Because of worsening conditions in Jackson, the team was eventually forced to relocate again to a hotel in Dallas where it used facilities provided by SMU, including a weight room and dining facilities. Throughout the ordeal, players and coaches anxiously watched daily news reports from New Orleans while not knowing the fate of many friends and family members still in the hurricane-devastated areas.
With the fall semester cancelled at Tulane, the school's athletic teams were split up among four universities in two states with the football team moving from Dallas to Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La. There, players were housed in a dormitory that had been closed for more than a year for renovations. A banquet hall in Louisiana Tech's basketball arena was converted into a makeshift locker room, although there were no actual lockers.
With the team's Sept. 3 season-opener at Southern Miss postponed due to the hurricane damage sustained in Hattiesburg, Miss., Tulane finally played its season-opener and first "home" game at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La., on Sept. 17 against Mississippi State. The Green Wave lost 21-14, but the team bounced back with two straight wins over SMU and Southeastern Louisiana despite the many off-the-field challenges the players faced due to the storm.
Tulane also played home games in Baton Rouge, La. (Oct. 1 vs. Southeastern Louisiana), Lafayette, La. (Oct. 8 vs. Houston), Ruston, La. (Oct. 14 vs. UTEP), Mobile, Ala. (Oct. 29 vs. Marshall) and Monroe, La. (Nov. 19 vs. Tulsa).
