By Staff Reports
April 29, 2017 – Portsmouth, NH — Two-time Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola of the New England Patriots will be the featured guest speaker of the inaugural Seacoast All-Star Sports Awards event on June 22 in downtown Portsmouth.
Seacoast Media Group will be honoring its top local high school athletes in a live show at The Music Hall located on 28 Chestnut Street.
“I am very honored to help recognize the student-athletes for their achievements,” Amendola said in a statement, “and look forward to a special evening celebrating their accomplishments.”
Player of the Year awards for 25 sports will be presented at the awards show, for which the SMG sports team will nominating hundreds of local athletes from its Portsmouth Herald and Foster’s Daily Democrat coverage areas. Coach of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year and Team of the Year will also be announced along with some specialty awards.
All award winners will enjoy a personal meet and greet and photo opportunity with Amendola, and every nominated athlete will receive free admission. The event is open to family, friends and the general public. Tickets – which will be available for purchase starting Sunday, April 30 – are $25 for adults and $5 for students.
“As we’ve gotten to know the character and accomplishments of our local athletes, we chose to take the celebration of what they achieve beyond the page and into the community,” said John Tabor, president and publisher of Seacoast Media Group. “Our Seacoast High School All-Star Awards will be a gala night to celebrate our high school athletes with awards, videos, testimonials, all capped off with an on-stage interview with our special guest ‘champion’ – Danny Amendola of the Super-Bowl winning Patriots.
“We hope this will become an annual event the whole Seacoast anticipates from the first training day in the August heat to the last week of spring sports.”
The event will also include a special appearance by professional snowboarder and Olympic medalist Scotty Lago. On the night of the event, a pre-show party with food vendors and photo opportunities will take place on Chestnut Street. Doors open for the main event at 6 p.m. and seating for the show will begin immediately. The event is scheduled to start at 6:35 p.m. and will end at approximately 9 p.m.
The inaugural event is being sponsored by Piscataqua Savings Bank and Exeter Hospital’s Center for Orthopedics and Movement.
“We are very pleased to be a sponsor of the 2017 Seacoast All-Star Sports Awards,” said Rick Wallis, President and CEO of Piscataqua Savings Bank. “As a local business, we’re excited to be able to show our pride in the accomplishments of local high school athletes.”
“We’re pleased to be a part of this exciting new event supporting our local sports teams,” said Debra Vasapolli, Exeter Hospital’s director of community relations, “and the youth of our communities.”
Amendola, 31, joined the Patriots as a free agent wide receiver in March of 2013 and has been part of the franchise’s past two Super Bowl championships: XLIX and LI. Amendola made several critical plays in the Patriots’ 34-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons in overtime on Feb. 5, 2017. He caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady with 6 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to narrow what had been a 25-point Falcons’ lead. Later in regulation, he caught the game-tying 2-point conversion pass with less a minute to go as New England tied the game, 28–28, to force the first overtime game in Super Bowl history.
Amendola recently took a pay reduction for the third straight year to remain a Patriot in 2017, carving his maximum earning capacity to $1.7 million for this season and saving the team $4.75 million in salary cap space.”In his four years in New England, Danny Amendola has projected himself as nothing but a first-class teammate,” Seacoast Media Group sports editor Ryan O’Leary said. “He’s a tremendous example for our local athletes, and I hope they’ll be excited as I am to have Danny at the Music Hall on June 22 to help us celebrate their accomplishments during the 2016-17 school year. This is going to be a blast.”Find out more information about the event, including how to purchase tickets, online at http://seacoastonline.com/seacoastallstars. Nominated athletes for the fall and winter seasons will be receiving a letter within the next few weeks with instructions on how to claim their free ticket to the event. Spring nominees will receive their letters soon after.
To learn about sponsorship opportunities, contact Andrew Chernoff at 603-570-2118 or achernoff@seacoastonline.com.
Read the original article from the Seacoast Online on April 29, 2017.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/sports/20170429/amendola-to-speak-at-inaugural-seacoast-sports-awards-show