Mark Messier, Michelle Wie, Howard Katz, and Kevin Plank To Be Honored
at the March of Dimes 31st Annual Sports Luncheon on December 3

New York, October 22, 2014 – Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier, Captain of the New York Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup Championship Team, and golfer Michelle Wie, longtime LPGA star and winner of the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, will be honored with the Sports Achievement Award and Sportswoman of the Year Award, respectively, by the March of Dimes New York Division at its 31st Annual Sports Luncheon on Wednesday, December 3 at the Waldorf Astoria New York. Howard Katz, the NFL’s Sr. Vice President of Broadcast and Media Operations, and Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour, will be honored with the Sports Leadership and Corporate Leadership Awards, respectively.

Each year, March of Dimes honors the outstanding achievements of men and women in the sports industry. Past recipients include New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, NBA Commissioner David Stern, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, baseball greats Mickey Mantle and Cal Ripken, Jr., tennis legends Andre Agassi and Venus Williams, basketball Hall of Famers Patrick Ewing and Lisa Leslie, and the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team.

Mark Messier is one of the most popular and accomplished players in NHL history, having won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, and a sixth as Captain of the 1994 New York Rangers -- their first Stanley Cup win in 54 years. He was a 16-time NHL All-Star and is the only professional athlete to captain two different franchises to championships. Mark is the second all-time leading scorer in NHL history, second only to Wayne Gretzky. In 2007, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, in his first year of eligibility. Mark was most recently the Special Assistant to the President of the New York Rangers Hockey Club. In that role, Messier assisted President and General Manager Glen Sather in various on and off-ice activities. In addition to his duties with the Rangers, Messier was named General Manager of Team Canada in December 2009 for the 2010 World Championships in Germany. In October 2010, he was named head coach of Team Canada for both the 2010 Deutschland Cup and 2010 Spengler Cup competitions, and led his team to a second place finish in the Spengler Cup. Mark is currently the CEO of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center in New York City and is very active in charitable causes. He is a member of the board of the NY Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund, and is an active supporter of the Tomorrow’s Children’s Fund, an organization with which he opened the Mark Messier Skyway for Tomorrow’s Children at the Hackensack University Medical Center in NJ.

Since an early age, Michelle Wie has commanded international attention for her prodigious golfing ability and her charisma, making her one of the most influential athletes in women's sports. Michelle graduated from Stanford University in March 2012 with a degree in Communications. She has won four events on the LPGA tour, including her first major championship at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, as well as having shot the lowest round ever recorded by a woman golfer in a men's PGA tour event. In 2000, at the age of 10, Michelle became the youngest qualifier ever at the USGA Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Over the next three years she electrified Hawaiian golf with victories and shattered records for youngest ever in virtually every category. While continuing her education at Stanford in 2009, Michelle entered 19 LPGA tournaments making 17 cuts, eight top-ten's, two third's, two second's and her first career LPGA victory at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational by Banamex and Corona Light, finishing the year with $918,659 in prize money. Michelle also played on the 2009 Solheim Cup USA Team, which defeated the European Team 16 to 12 with Michelle, and her playing partners earning 3.5 of 4 possible points. Michelle’s 2014 campaign has been a “career year.” Just one week after nearly winning the LPGA’s first major of the season at the Kraft Nabisco Championship (she finished second), Michelle returned to her native Hawaii and won the LPGA Lotte Championship for her third-career LPGA win. Two months later, she earned her first major championship victory at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

Howard Katz was named the NFL’s Senior Vice President of Broadcasting and Media Operations in March 2005. The appointment added duties to Katz’s role as Chief Operating Officer of NFL Films. Katz is responsible for creating the annual NFL playing schedule, managing relationships with the NFL’s broadcast partners and played an integral role in creating the NFL broadcast packages with CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC and NFL Network which kicked off in 2006. At NFL Films, he is responsible for managing business activities at the NFL’s 200,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art film and television studio complex in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. Prior to his current post, Katz was the President of ABC Sports, where he served from March, 1999, through April, 2003. Under his leadership at ABC Sports, Katz acquired or renewed television rights for the NBA, Indianapolis 500 and the Indy Racing league, the British Open, the PGA TOUR, and the Little League World Series. Before his post at ABC, Katz served as Executive Vice President, ESPN, where he oversaw all remote and studio production for all of ESPN’s domestic and international networks, as well as the company’s engineering and technical operations and ESPN Radio. Katz began his television career in 1971 as a production assistant at ABC Sports before joining Trans World International where he worked in both New York and Los Angeles (1974-83) as vice president.

As special teams captain for the University of Maryland football program, Kevin Plank was tired of changing his sweat-soaked cotton T-shirts over and over again throughout the day. This inspired him to create a better kind of T-shirt—one that could wick sweat and keep athletes cool, dry, and light. Upon graduating from Maryland in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Plank started to turn his idea into a reality and, as a result, began redefining the way athletes dress. That year, he went on a mission to find the perfect fabric—performance synthetics—and combined it with an athlete’s perfect fit—compression. What started out as one tight shirt ultimately led to the launch of Under Armour (NYSE: UA) as the high performance answer to the sweat-drenched cotton dilemma. After 18 years of outfitting athletes with the world’s most innovative performance apparel, footwear, and equipment, Plank now oversees a company with over 7,000 employees worldwide and total revenues nearly $3 billion. Under Armour athletic performance products are sold globally and are worn by athletes at all levels on playing fields all over the world. Under Armour's wholly owned subsidiary, MapMyFitness, powers one of the world's largest Connected Fitness communities.

Michelle Wie To Be Honored at the March of Dimes 31st Annual Sports Luncheon

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