On Tuesday, Februrary 2nd, 2021, the 41st Thurman Munson Awards Dinner was held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic. The awards are named after the late, great Yankees Captain and catcher, Thurman Munson, who passed away in 1979 and for the last 41 years, some of New York City’s best professional athletes and media figures have attended the Munson Awards to benefit the AHRC New York City Foundation, an organization that helps children with intellectual and developmental disabilities pursue their dreams.
At this year’s Munson Awards Dinner, the former captain of the New York Football Giants, Harry Carson was presented with the “Captain Award,” while five other current athletes who play for New York-based teams received Munson awards for their charitable donations, which included U.S. Women’s National soccer Team (USWNT) goalie, Alyssa Naeher Yankees first baseman Luke Voit, third baseman Gio Urshela and New York Met outfielder Michael Conforto.
Harry Carson on the ‘Captain Award’
From 1979-88, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Harry Carson was the Captain of the New York Giants, but ironically, during the last 30 years, Carson may have been busier than he was during his playing days! According to Fritz Pollard, has been a spokesperson for the Bergen County Cancer Education and Early Detection Program and has even worked with the NFL Hall of Fame to raise awareness for Prostate Cancer among men.
Carson never got to meet Thurman Munson even though they both played for prominent New York professional sports teams during the same decade. Nevertheless, during the press conference previewing the 41st Thurman Munson Awards ceremony, Carson described the respect that he had for Munson.
“I was just a young kid playing for the Giants when unfortunately we lost Thurman,” Carson said, “I knew all about him because he was the Yankees Captain. I went on to become Captain of the Giants and I wanted to mold my captainship after Thurman in terms of being a leader.”
Carson described why receiving the ‘Captains Award’ which is named after Thurman Munson, means so much to him.
“I’m honored to be recognized with the ‘Captain’s Award,’ because you have to have the attributes of being a captain to even qualify for this honor and I’m just honored to be recognized with this award.”
Ivan Rodriguez Receives “Munson Award”
Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez received the “Munson Award” for the three decades of involvement Pudge has had helping to educate children and adults in communities in Puerto Rico, South America, and the United States. For the last 28 years, Rodriguez who was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017, has operated the “Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez Foundation,” which has helped provide health and education services to people in Texas, Florida and his home, Puerto Rico.
‘Pudge’ Rodriguez was one of the best catchers to ever play and, during the pre-ceremony presser Rodriguez candidly described what he knew about Munson, who is the person whom his award is named after.
“It’s an honor to be a part of the extremely selective group of award winners,” Pudge said, “The stories that I heard about [Thurman Munson] are that he was an amazing human being on and off the field.”
In addition to running his own Foundation, Rodriguez works with two charities in the South American country of Colombia that provide education services to children in Colombia. Rodriguez, who is known as ‘Pudge’ by baseball fans and writers described the honor he felt upon receiving this award during a video conference on Wednesday.
“I always love to be involved in anything I can do to help the community and raising $17 million, it’s amazing. It’s an honor to keep helping people who need help.”
Yankees Players Reflect on Munson
At this year’s Thurman Munson Awards, New York Yankees players, Gio Urshela and Luke Voit received Munson Awards for charitable contributions they have made to communities in New York City. During the last two seasons, both Urshela and Voit have been top performers, on and off the field.
The 29-year-old from Colombia described why he loves to be involved in making positive change in his community.
“Helping people, that’s the number-one key,” Urshela said, “Doing a lot of work in the community, especially for New York and then I started doing stuff in Colombia, it’s been a blast to help a lot of people.”
Voit, the 28-year-old from Missouri, explained how he feels about the Thurman Munson Awards partnership with the AHRC New York City Foundation.
“It means a lot that [the Thurman Munson Awards are] partnering with AHRC because my little sister has disabilities, too,” Voit said. “What [AHRC] has done for our society and especially our community up in the five boroughs is great, so that’s what makes this award even more close to my heart.”
Luke Voit, Yankees First Baseman
Some of New York’s most civilly engaged professional athletes took part in the 2021 Thurman Munson awards and showed that being a star athlete in New York City has just as much to do with on field accomplishments as it does with off-the-field accomplishments.
Anthony Paradiso 