De Varona to be Honored at Sports Legends Awards

LOS ANGELES, California, February 16. THE 15th Annual Sports Legends Awards, presented by The Paralysis Project of America, will honor two-time Olympic swimmer Donna de Varona in a ceremony scheduled for February 25 at the Omni Hotel in Los Angeles. De Varona will be honored along with Olympic gymnasts Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci, football’s Willie Davis of the Green Bay Packers, volleyball’s Karch Kiraly and horse racing’s Alex Solis. Former Utah Jazz point guard John Stockton will receive the John R. Wooden Lifetime Achievement Award.

“We hoped our 15th year would be a special one and we are enormously grateful for the legendary sports superstars joining us in 2006, who are being so generous with their time to help bring the serious need for spinal cord research into the limelight,” said Catherine Lepone, Executive Director of The Paralysis Project of America. “Their involvement in the Sports Legends Awards is a shining personal tribute to everyone who has suffered a life-altering injury that impedes his ability to walk or compete in sports activities as he once did.”

De Varona was a two-time Olympian (1960, 1964) who set 18 world records during her career and captured two gold medals (400 individual medley and 400-meter freestyle relay) at the Tokyo games in 1964, while later becoming the first female sports broadcaster on network television.

The 15th Annual Sports Legends Awards is open to the public and complete ticket information can be obtained by contacting The Baker Group at (310) 216-4722. Online registration also is available with The Paralysis Project of America at www.paralysisproject.org. Net proceeds benefit The Paralysis Project of America, founded by the parents of young people paralyzed by spinal cord injury, along with others dedicated to finding the ultimate cure for paralysis.

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