Since 2009, the Calgary Stampeders have been pleased to present the Stan Schwartz — Heart of a Champion Awards.

In the city of Calgary, there are hundreds of youth playing high school football every year. These kids all have stories of their own. To capture the spirit of amateur football, the Calgary Stampeders are proud to present the Stan Schwartz – Heart of a Champion Award.

The Heart of a Champion Award is not about who is the most talented. It’s about success as a person. There are always awards for most valuable, most improved, and outstanding performance, but it is much more difficult to recognize the underappreciated and the inspiring. That’s the goal of the Stan Schwartz Award.

Criteria

The recipient of the Stan Schwartz Award will be a Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association student-athlete. The award is based on a number of factors not specific to contribution on the field, including:

• Contribution to the team off the field
• Contribution to the community
• Contribution to the school
• Personal perseverance
• Athletic perseverance

This award is based on the recommendation of high school coaches and faculty.

Schwartz is currently the Executive Vice-President, Business Operations/Consultant to the Executive Committee and is in his 22nd year with the Stampeders. He was inducted onto the Calgary Stampeder Football Club’s Wall of Fame in 2004 and into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 for his continued support of football in southern Alberta.

Winners in 2011 were Robbie Prokop, Western Canada (Division I), Robert Banks, Bishop McNally/Father Lacombe (Division II) and Kyle Doubell, Bishop Carroll (Division III)