Wellington & Ann Mara to be Honored with Inaugural Fordham Victory Bell Award

Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham Director of Athletics Dave Roach announced today that the late Wellington and Ann Mara will be honored as the recipients of the Fordham Victory Bell Award which will be presented at the inaugural Fordham Athletics Gala on April 22 at 583 Park in Manhattan.
 
The Victory Bell Award honors individuals who have brought distinction and honor to Fordham University Athletics through achievements not related to competition, coaching and/or administration. The honoree, selected by the Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame Committee, embodies a sense of leadership and passion for Fordham Athletics and serves as an inspiration to the Fordham Athletics Family.
 
"Wellington & Ann Mara are synonymous with all that we are so proud of when it comes to Fordham and Fordham Athletics," said Roach. "Wellington and Ann Mara were extremely generous to Fordham University and the Fordham Athletics department and the Mara family continues to display that support today. We are tremendously grateful for all the Mara family has done for the University."
 
The Fordham Football program honors the Mara family each year with the presentation of the Mara Family Award, named in honor of the family of the late Wellington Mara, a 1937 graduate of Fordham, and longtime co-owner of the Giants who passed in 2005, his wife, Ann, known as "The First Lady of Football," who passed in 2015, and their family.
 
The Maras co-owned the NFL team founded in 1925 by Wellington's father, Tim, and the couple's earliest shared experiences of football began at Fordham. Wellington, a diehard Ram and a classmate of Vince Lombardi, would frequently bring Ann to University sporting events.
 
"During our courtship, [Wellington] dragged me to every football game and every basketball game," Mara said when she accepted Fordham's 2012 Walsh Award, given each year to an individual who best exemplifies the support, loyalty, and passion for Fordham football. "That was his idea of a romantic night."
 
Through the years, the couple remained well-connected to Fordham: their son John Mara, the Giants' president and CEO, is a 1979 graduate of Fordham Law School and several of their grandchildren attended the University. Both Ann and Wellington received honorary degrees from Fordham and Wellington Mara received one of the University's first Founder's Awards in 2002.
 
The Victory Bell Award will be presented on Saturday, April 22, 2017, at the Inaugural Fordham Athletics Gala and Hall of Fame ceremony to be held at 583 Park in Manhattan.