2003 Lombardi Award Photos

View photos from the Lombardi Award festivities with OU defensive tackle Tommie Harris in Houston.

Harris is one of four finalists for the award along with Arkansas offensive tackle Shawn Andrews, UCLA defensive end David Ball and Georgia defensive end David Pollack.

The trophy will be presented to the winner on Wednesday night at the conclusion of a gala at Reliant Stadium.

In these photos from Tuesday taken by Assistant Media Relations Director Chris Freet, Harris endures a tuxedo fitting, visits the Burnett Bayland Home for Juveniles, has lunch at Freebirds (home of the world's biggest burrito), conducts radio interviews and plays a little piano and works on an ice sculpture at a cocktail party at the Petroleum Club in a skyscraper in downtown Houston.

View Photo Gallery From Tuesday

The Rotary Lombardi Award is hosted by the Rotary Club of Houston and benefits the American Cancer Society. The Award was initiated by the Rotary Club in 1970 shortly after the death of Vince Lombardi to cancer.

The Rotary Lombardi Award goes annually to the college football lineman -- offense or defense -- who, in addition to outstanding performance and ability, best exemplifies the discipline of Vince Lombardi. As the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, Lombardi first made a name for himself as the smallest but toughest member of Fordham University's "Seven Blocks of Granite," renowned in their day (1934-37) for being the most unyielding line in college football.

Appropriately, the trophy is a 40-pound block of granite atop a silver pedestal built over a foundation of discipline. The symbolic design was created by Houston Rotarian and professional artist, the late Mark Storm.

A distinguished committee of nearly 400 of America's most prominent college football coaches, football writers, sports broadcasters and previous Rotary Lombardi Award winners, participate in a three-tiered balloting process. Each year the selection committee selects twelve semifinalists, four finalists and the ultimate winner in balloting conducted by the accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick.

All four finalists, their head coaches and sports information directors are brought to Houston for two days of hospital visits, media interviews and local hospitality. The climax of the trip is the annual Rotary Lombardi Dinner, when an sellout crowd gathers to hear the annoucement of the winner prior to its release to the national media.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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