Jan. 24, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., - Former Nittany Lion Adam Taliaferro has been selected to receive the Humanitarian Award from the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association at its annual awards dinner.
Taliaferro, whose football career ended when he suffered a severe neck injury in 2000, will be recognized when the PSWA holds its 105th annual Award Dinner on Monday, January 26. The event will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, N.J. Tickets are available and can be purchased at http://pswadinner.com.
Taliaferro is receiving the Humanitarian Award for his work his own Adam Taliaferro Foundation, whose mission is to help athletes who, like Adam, have suffered spinal cord injuries. The Foundation provides emotional, financial and educational support to student-athletes who suffer head or spinal injuries in sanctioned team events in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. It also provides support toward research and prevention of those injuries.
Log onto www.taliaferrofoundation.org for more information on the Adam Taliaferro Foundation.
A cornerback from Voorhees, N.J., Taliaferro suffered a severe neck injury while making a tackle in the fourth quarter of the game at Ohio State on September 23, 2000. A true freshman, he fractured the fifth cervical vertebra near the base of his neck when tackling Buckeye running back Jerry Westbrooks.
Taliaferro lay on the field motionless for many agonizing minutes. The initial prognosis of his spinal injury was that he had little chance of walking again.
But, the talented, personable and vibrant young man and his family would have nothing of the devastating diagnosis. Through his incredible determination and courage, tireless rehabilitation and desire to return to a normal life, Taliaferro was incredibly walking on his own five months after his injury.
A little more than 11 months after his horrific injury, Taliaferro completed one of the major goals he had established soon after the injury. On September 1, 2001, he walked, then skipped and jogged onto the Beaver Stadium turf in front of a jubilant record crowd of more than 109,000, leading the Nittany Lions onto the field against Miami (Fla.).
Taliaferro began taking a full academic course load again in the 2001 fall semester while continuing his rehabilitation In May 2005 he walked across the stage at the Bryce Jordan Center and was awarded his degree in labor and industrial relations.
In May 2008, Taliaferro earned his J.D. degree from the Rutgers School of Law-Camden. He is an attorney in a Philadelphia law firm.