“Today Show” commentator and analyst on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” Tiki Barber was honored last Friday evening in Manhattan at Cipriani. Brooklyn’s Xaverian High School presented the recently retired Giants running back, with its coveted Joe DiMaggio Award.
Established in 1999 after the Yankee Clipper’s death, the DiMaggio Award was established to memorialize his “lifelong commitment to the health, education and well being of America’s youth.” Three-time Pro-Bowler, during an illustrious 10-year playing career, Barber set virtually every career offensive record for the Giants and is best known for team records of 10,448 rushing yards, 586 receptions and 15,631 total yards from scrimmage.
DiMaggio earned the Bay Ridge school’s highest honor, formerly called the Concordia Award, in 1997. The award has since been presented to Dr. Henry Kissinger, Maestro Luciano Pavarotti, former mayor and current presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani, television personality Regis Philbin, singer/songwriter Paul Simon, Sopranos star James Gandolfini , CBS Sports commentator Boomer Esiason and NBC Emmy-Award winning sports broadcaster Bob Costas.
The Joe DiMaggio Award Gala has become the preeminent education gala in the United States and this year benefits the Legacy Program, an intensive and self-contained program that runs parallel to the mainstream, designed for students with learning disabilities. The major fundraiser for Xaverian's Ryken Education Center, students with learning disabilities never had the opportunity to attend college.
Presently adopted by the New York State Regents as the model of all such endeavors, since the Ryken Program’s inception in 1994 (it was formerly known as the REACH Program), over 100 young men have graduated from this special initiative and all have gone on to four-year colleges of their choice.
Four students recently received scholarships to major New York-Metropolitan area universities. It has evolved into the preeminent educational gala in the United States. Since Xaverian is private and tuition driven, proceeds from the Gala will especially benefit its many students. Besides the dinner and awards presentation, the evening includes a silent auction of rare Joe DiMaggio memorabilia donated by the DiMaggio Estate and Morris Engelberg, Esq.
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