May 14, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame men’s basketball coach Mike Brey will be one of the guest speakers at the 2010 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Foundation Court of Honor Gala on Monday evening, May 17, at the Plaza Hotel Hotel in New York City, N.Y.
Along with keynote speaker Mike Kryzezewski of Duke University, Brey, a member of the NABC’s National Board of Coaches, will address the Gala crowd with regards to the organization’s TICKET TO READING REWARDS initiative. TTRR is a reading incentive program that encourages Middle School students to read books outside the classroom and obtain rewards for reading.
Over the life of the program, students have read an estimated 4,000,000 books, obtained nearly 1,000,000 rewards and attended 125,000 local men’s and women’s NCAA basketball games–all at no cost to schools or students.
The TTRR program was founded in 2002 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Foundation and is coordinated by the Orvieto Group.
Two long-time NABC Foundation board members, John Rogers, CEO of Ariel Investments, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan started TTRR, while he was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. The program is being run at more than 150 schools across the country, with many districts arranging for a men’s college basketball coach to visit their students to talk about the importance of reading and education.
In December 2009, Brey partnered with Bremen Middle School to tip-off that school’s TTRR program. In addition, he was part of the program within the Chicago Public Schools the previous year.
The Gala was developed to bring recognition to an individual and the game of basketball while raising foundation awareness and important financial support to the NABC Foundation. Also as part of the Gala’s festivities, the NABC Foundation will present former senator Bill Bradley with the Court of Honor Award. The Award is presented to an individual, businessman or educator, who has roots in college basketball, values those roots in the game and has gone on to distinguish himself in his profession, exhibiting the highest standards for leadership.