Las Vegas, NV — The 19th annual “Legends for Charity Dinner” took place during Super Bowl LVIII Media Week in the Octavius Ballroom at the Caesars Palace Casino in Las Vegas, NV., where CBS analyst and former Dallas cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was honored with the prestigious “Pat Summerall Award” for his outstanding career in playing, broadcasting, and having a significant impact in the community.
Cheryl Deleonardis president of Ocean-to-Ocean Production created the award in 2005 during Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Florida. Deleonardis selected Pat Summerall to be the Inaugural recipient. The dinner had such a successful turnout and with the blessing of Pat and wife Cheri Summerall, the award was named after the legendary broadcaster. The event has become a Super Bowl Week tradition, and each year a new honoree is chosen. Past honorees include Howie Long, Erin Andrews, Tony Dungy, Chris Berman, John Madden and more.
Legends for Charity’s focus is to help St. Jude Children Research Hospital fight pediatric cancer. Since the event’s inception in 2005, it has raised over $11 million dollars, helping countless amounts of children across the country and supporting the institutions promise and goals. Their goal is to find cures and save the lives of the children. St. Jude Children Research Hospital does not charge parents for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their children live.
For St. Jude Children Research Hospital to continue doing so, charitable events like these and their contributions are very much needed.
“I am incredibly honored to receive this award, Pat was the voice of my youth and helped me fall in love with the game of football’ said Romo.
The kid from Burlington, Wisconsin that once sat in front of television, is now the voice of football for this generation. An emotional Romo gave thanks to everyone who had helped him along his journey including Jim Nantz, his parents and wife, Candice Crawford Romo.
In attendance were fellow CBS colleagues Jim Nantz, Chris Berman, Tracy Wolfson, James Brown and one of the St. Jude patients Emmanuel who was diagnosed with retinoblastoma at four years old, a cancer of the eye. Emmanuel underwent treatment at St. Jude Children Research Hospital , He is now 19, and is living his dream of playing football with 18 college scholarships.
Both Emmanuel and his mother took the stage to speak about their journey and to thank St. Jude Children Research Hospital.
During the dinner there is a live auction, this year over $250,000 were raised through the auction as guest bided on private wine tastings vacations and Super Bowl tickets. But this 2024 dinner was special, Entrepreneur Stella Roy, guest of the event stood up at her table with a special announcement. Roy announced that she was donating one million dollars, everyone in the ballroom gave a standing ovation, guests could not believe the enormous milestone and were brought to tears. Tony Romo and President and CEO of ALSAC, Richard C. Shadyac Jr rushed over to thank her for the generous donation.
There are plenty of charities and parties that are held during Super Bowl weekend, Legends for Charity is one of the cornerstone events as it benefits Children and gives families hope without out the financial stress. This year’s Legends for a charity dinner raised a record $2.1 million for St. Jude Children’s research Hospital. If you would like to get involved, please contact Legendsforcharity.com to make a difference.