Tulane's Gelhardt Named a Coca-Cola Community All-American
Jun 21, 2006 | Football
June 21, 2006
NEW ORLEANS - Tulane sophomore deep snapper Craig Gelhardt is one of seven New Orleans area student-athletes to be honored by the Coca-Cola Company and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) this week as a Coca-Cola Community All-American. The seven New Orleans area award winners are in addition to the seven national Coca-Cola Community All-Americans annually named by the company.
Gelhardt and his fellow New Orleans honorees received their awards Wednesday as part of the James J. Corbett Awards Luncheon at the NACDA Convention being held in New Orleans June 20-23. In addition, Coca-Cola will make a $5,000 donation to the Tulane athletics department in Gelhardt's name.
Gelhardt, who started every game as the Green Wave football team's deep snapper in 2005, has spent much of his free time since returning to New Orleans in January gutting houses and removing debris from homes in the devastated 9th Ward area. After spending the 2005 fall semester with the Tulane team in Ruston, La., Gelhardt joined the volunteer group Student Advocacy for Equitable Recovery (SAFER), which focuses its efforts on helping the recovery of the city. An active member of the group, the Tallahassee, Fla. native has recruited new members from the Tulane community through meetings and the distribution flyers.
"This is a great honor for Craig and the Tulane football program," said Tulane head coach Chris Scelfo. "We learned this fall that what we do on the field is important and can represent a community and a university, but contributing off the field is just as important, and we stress that to all of our student-athletes."
Members of the Green Wave football team are completing the 2006 "lagniappe" semester at Tulane this month in addition to off-season workouts and conditioning. After playing 11 games in 11 stadiums a year ago while displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Green Wave is "Back Home in the Dome" for 2006 beginning Sept. 30 when Tulane takes on SMU in the Louisiana Superdome. The 2006 schedule begins Sept. 9 at Houston as the Wave will play three straight road games to open the season before returning to their home stadium for the first time since December 2, 2004 for the first of five New Orleans contests.
Season tickets for the 2006 campaign are now on sale through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office by calling 504-861-WAVE.
-- Roll Wave --
