Ed Block

It's what every big-and-tall formal-wear retailer dreams of: A reception room chock-full of big-and-tall guys totally decked out in designer tuxes. Since these were all top-notch NFL players from around the country -- recipients of the 2001 Ed Block Courage Awards -- this VIP gathering was also the ultimate fantasy for football fans. In fact, there were some 700 die-hard sports hounds waiting downstairs in the Martin's West ballroom to get a gander at their idols at the 24th annual Ed Block Courage Awards dinner.

As the occasional snowflake fluttered through the air and landed on a makeshift football field, Jahvid Best once again stood on the sideline, watching others play the game he loves. This day, it was his choice. The Detroit Lions running back, who hasn't played a game since October 2011 because of multiple concussions, was one of 17 NFL players who visited St. Vincent's Villa in Timonium on Sunday morning. As Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt captained teams of children, Best laughed, cheered and tried to stay warm.

One player from each of the NFL's 31 teams was honored Thursday as a 2001 Ed Block Courage Award recipient. Each March for the past 17 years, the Ed Block Courage Awards Foundation has honored NFL players who, in the eyes of teammates, exemplify a commitment to the principles of sportsmanship and courage. The 31 recipients will be honored on March 5 at Martin's West in Woodlawn. The event also will honor the NFL athletic training staff of the year, as voted by the members of the Pro Football Athletic Trainers Society, from the San Francisco 49ers.

Ravens long snapper Morgan Cox has been named the team's 2011 Ed Block Courage Award recipient. Here's the full news release:   The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation has announced that LS Morgan Cox is the recipient of the 2011 Ed Block Courage Award for the Baltimore Ravens. Cox was the lone undrafted rookie free agent to make the Ravens' 53-man roster during the 2010 campaign. In his first NFL season, he snapped for a pair of specialists who earned Pro Bowl honors, starting kicker Billy Cundiff and first-alternate punter Sam Koch.

FOR 20 YEARS, NFL football players have been recognized for their courage on and off the field by the Ed Block Courage Awards Foundation.The group's recent awards dinner at Martin's West attracted nearly 2,000 people. Among the dozens of football celebrities who attended was the first Ed Block honoree, the Baltimore Colts' Joe Ehrmann.The event is a dream come true for Sam Lamantia, a Baltimore hairstylist who founded the awards named for a Baltimore Colts trainer. He has seen the foundation grow through the years, even when Baltimore didn't have an NFL team.

The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation announced the recipients for its 1999 Ed Block Courage Awards yesterday. One player from each NFL team is chosen by vote of his teammates for exemplifying courage on and off the field and serving as a role model for his team and community. The Ravens' Block Award recipient this year is linebacker Peter Boulware. Recipients will be honored at a banquet in Baltimore on March 7. Proceeds from the banquet benefit the Courage House National Support Network of centers for abused children in 10 NFL cities.

This is an honor Mike Utley knows about and wants so much to receive. It will be a struggle for a partially paralyzed patient, still undergoing therapy, to move from a Denver hospital room to a banquet hall in Baltimore, but he craves to do it. Cheering on the sidelines are his Detroit Lions teammates, who voted him the distinction.Utley's first "road" trip since the spinal injury sustained in a game against the Los Angeles Rams last season is for the purpose of attending the Ed Block Courage Awards, which are being held in Baltimore for the 14th successive year on March 3. Each National Football League team decides on a player to represent it who demonstrated the highest degree of character, fortitude and determination.

What began as a modest and tenuous endeavor, an amateur athletic club gathering to honor a Baltimore Colts football player, has turned into a charitable bonanza, a national spectacle, a working model that other cities have come to study and emulate. It's all in behalf of making a better world for abused children. Can there be a more tender and compelling cause?It's the Ed Block Memorial Courage Award Banquet, started by a working man, a barber named Sam Lamantia, who had a dream and made it come true.

After serving as the basis for the movie Invincible, Vince Papale inspired again last night. Papale, a former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver and special teams player, was honored at the 29th annual Ed Block Courage Awards at Martin's West. Accepting a special Courage Award, Papale encouraged men over the age of 45 to get tested for cancer. "It's not that bad, guys," he said, adding that he is a survivor of colorectal cancer. "I was almost invisible, not invincible." Portrayed in the film by Mark Wahlberg, Papale tried out for the Eagles at the age of 30 in 1976 and made the team's active roster, becoming the oldest rookie in NFL history.

Kevin Everett signed about 300 autographs last night at the Ed Block Courage Awards banquet at Martin's West. Afterward, he waggled his tired right wrist and smiled. It was, he said, a good hurt. "That was a workout - for my hand," said Everett, the Buffalo Bills tight end who fractured his spine in a football game in September - an injury initially believed likely to leave him paralyzed. But Everett is recovering, and though he'll never play football again, he has become a hero to others.

Bill Tessendorf, the longtime Ravens trainer who retired last month, was recognized Monday night by the Ed Block Foundation as part of its sponsor appreciation kickoff dinner. It's an honor that touched Tessendorf because it came from an organization named after the longtime head athletic trainer of the Baltimore Colts. "I'm awestruck because the man that it's named after, I got to know and meet," Tessendorf said Monday night. "It also means I've been around for a long time.

I was invited to a VIP reception for the 2010 Ed Block Courage Award winners held at the Tremont Plaza Hotel last night, but I arrived an hour or so late because I was waiting for a phone call from Ken Rosenthal . When I finally arrived at the event, most of the award recipients were gone. But Bengals running back Cedric Benson and Cowboys wide receiver Sam Hurd were still there, and they desperately tried to keep the party alive into the eight o'clock hour. After a little bit of coaxing from the band, Benson, with a glass of white wine in one hand, hopped up on stage for a few songs.

The line of football fans seeking autographs snaked out the door, down the spiral staircase and into the lobby at Martin's West. At the Ed Block Courage Awards banquet Tuesday night, hundreds of people waited as long as 45 minutes for NFL players to sign helmets, jerseys, balls and programs. Among those signing was Nick Eason of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ravens fans gave him the business — and Eason gave it right back. "I like your smile, but that quarterback of yours [Ben Roethlisberger]

A t first glance, the gathering at the Martin's West banquet hall looked like any other black-tie affair. Formally clad guests politely chatted while sipping cocktails and sampling hors d'oeuvres. On closer inspection, it was apparent that many of the tuxedos in the room were of the big-and-tall variety. After all, this was the VIP reception for the annual Ed Block Courage Awards. The annual event honors one player from each of the 32 NFL teams. Al Poklemba , Glenelg Country School athletic director, and his wife, Cheri Poklemba , discovered there was one tiny issue with all those big tuxedos.

Carrying signs with slogans like "No awards for dog killers" and "Cowards abuse animals," Tuesday evening about 100 protesters picketed the award ceremony at which convicted dogfighter Michael Vick received an award for his courage and sportsmanship. Protesters, many holding pictures of Vick's mutilated fighting dogs, and a few with dogs of their own on leashes, lined the road leading to the Martin's West banquet hall, where the Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback, was set to accept the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation's coveted honor.

Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick is expected to attend the 32nd annual Ed Block Courage Awards dinner Tuesday at Martin's West, sparking an increase in security and a radical change in format regarding autographs for fans. Vick, who was convicted in 2007 of running a dogfighting ring in which animals were killed, is one of 32 winners to be honored at the affair, which singles out one member of each NFL team for his courage, sportsmanship and inspiration to his community.

The first time Mike Utley attended the Ed Block Courage Awards banquet was in 1992, 3 1/2 months after he was paralyzed from the chest down while playing for the Detroit Lions. It was Utley's first major public appearance after the injury, and he remembers the reporters, the cameras, the intense scrutiny he was under during his two-day visit to Baltimore. "But you know what?" Utley said yesterday. "I survived." Emboldened by the experience, Utley went public with his quest to find a cure for paralysis and continued working toward his goal of walking off the Silverdome field and bringing proper closure to his NFL career.

Art Modell was welcomed to Baltimore last night.After being besieged by autograph seekers who thanked him for bringing the NFL back to Baltimore, Modell got a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 2,000 at the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation Dinner last night.Modell, who was criticized the past four months from coast to coast for moving the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore, seemed touched by the reception."I'm overwhelmed with the response here tonight," Modell said."If this is the enthusiasm for NFL football, what's going to happen when we win a few games?"

Philadelphia Eagles back-up quarterback Michael Vick is expected to attend the 32nd annual Ed Block Courage Awards dinner Tuesday at Martin's West, sparking an increase in security and a radical change in format regarding autographs for fans. Vick, who was convicted in 2007 of running a dogfighting ring in which animals were killed, is one of 32 winners to be honored at the affair, which singles out one member of each NFL team for his courage, sportsmanship and inspiration to their communities.

Recipients of this year's Ed Block Courage Award were announced Tuesday, and Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick's name is still on the list. Animal-rights advocates criticized the Eagles for choosing as its honoree a player who has served a prison sentence in connection with a dogfighting operation marked by the killing of canines. The award, named after a longtime Baltimore Colts trainer and humanitarian, seeks to honor players who "exemplify commitments to the principles of sportsmanship and courage."