DETROIT LIONS’ TIM PENDELL RECEIVES NATIONAL CITATION

Former Ferris State Sports Information Director Tim Pendell To Receive Prestigious Community Service Award.

Former Ferris State Sports Information Director To Receive Prestigious Award

Former Ferris State University Sports Information Director Tim Pendell, who’s currently the Senior Director of Community Affairs with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), has been honored as the “Most Proactive Staff Member” of all the North America professional sports teams by the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

The World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame recognizes the tremendous asset each professional team and its organization is to their community.

Pendell, who served from 1976-83 as the Sports Information Director at Ferris State, will receive a Certificate of Merit lauding his numerous contributions to the Detroit Lions’ Community Affairs efforts throughout the 2002 season during the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame annual Induction Ceremony Wednesday, April 30, at the Boise Center On The Grove Convention Center in Boise, Idaho. Pendell received the prestigious individual honor because of his significant charity and community affairs impact in the metropolitan Detroit area and the entire state of Michigan. He also has spent a tremendous amount of time with the Detroit Police Athletic League (P.A.L.) which enables 3,000 Detroit area children to play football along with the Detroit Lions Academy and the United Way.

Through his leadership efforts, the Detroit Lions’ Community Affairs Department was also selected the recipient of the 2002 Pro Team Community Award and was awarded a citation for the “Best Use Of A Diversity Theme” as a result of the Lions’ programs to help youth cope with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. The Pro Team Community Award recognizes the pro sports organization that is judged to have the most effective calendar of community activities and will be presented at the induction ceremony.

A native of Macomb, Ill., Pendell is presently in his 18th year with the Detroit Lions organization and was promoted to Senior Director of Community Affairs February 13, 2001. He joined the Lions in 1985 and was Director of Communications prior to being named to his current position in December 1990. A member of the P.A.L. Board of Directors, Pendell helped initiate the Detroit Lions Academy, an alternative middle school for Detroit Public School children which opened in Fall 2001. He presently serves as the team’s liaison with the Detroit Lions Alumni and organizes various Lions’ special events such as the Detroit Lions Golf Invitational and Kickoff Luncheon. Following his seven-year stint at Ferris State, Pendell joined the public relations staff of the United States Football League’s Michigan Panthers from 1983-84.

Pendell played an integral role in donating both Detroit Lions’ 2002 game tickets and an authentic game jersey with the proceeds going toward the FSU Athletics Department weight room in the memory of former Bulldog football student-athlete Matt Sklom, who died this past fall during a practice session.