The Fairfield County Sports Commission and the Forever Young Foundation, the charitable giving entity of Greenwich native and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young, today announced that Forever Young will be the presenting sponsor of the Chelsea Cohen Courage Award at the Commission’s Sports Night awards dinner on October 20.
Forever Young, which has agreed to a multi-year commitment, is donating $10,000 this year to the Commission to support its fundraising efforts in promoting fitness and an active, healthy lifestyle and personal development through sports in the county.
Mike Myers-Keitt, a Fairfield Prep graduate and basketball standout who is set to attend Monmouth University, is this year’s award recipient.
Myers-Keitt, a Norwalk native now living in Waterbury, suffered traumatic injuries in a fall on the court in 2006. A cracked right side of his skull, broken bones in his inner ear and considerable nerve damage to the right side of his face left him unresponsive and doctors not sure if he would walk again. The 6-foot-7 Myers-Keitt recovered over a two-year period and has earned a scholarship to Division I Monmouth.
The Commission created the Chelsea Cohen Courage Award in 2006, named after the late Chelsea Cohen, a former Norwalk High soccer star who was the Commission’s first Courage Award recipient. She passed away in 2006 after a courageous bout with a rare form of cancer of the nervous system. The award recognizes the person in the sports community who has shown inspirational strength in battling life-altering obstacles.
As part of the sponsorship, Forever Young and the FCSC will make a donation of $2,000 to the Chelsea Cohen Memorial Foundation, which was started by Cohen’s parents Barbara Rittner and Larry Cohen. The Cohen Foundation’s goal is to fund HOPE (Helping Open Possibilities for Excellence), which will support young athletes who need financial assistance to reach their athletic goals. The fund also is raising money for research to help find a cure for CNS Sarcoma, the rare cancer that took Chelsea’s life.
