Ster­ling Friend­ship Award

2019 Ster­ling Award Recip­i­ent — Nation­al Senior Games Association

Nation­al Senior Games Asso­ci­a­tion (NSGA) was estab­lished over three decades ago as a non-prof­it Mul­ti-Sport Orga­ni­za­tion Coun­cil mem­ber of the Unit­ed States Olympic Com­mit­tee. NSGA pro­motes health and well­ness for adults age 50 and over through edu­ca­tion, fit­ness and sport. The orga­ni­za­tion gov­erns the bien­ni­al Nation­al Senior Games, the largest mul­ti-sport cham­pi­onship event in the world for seniors. NSGA is com­prised of 54 Mem­ber Games across the U.S., Cana­da and Mex­i­co that con­duct qual­i­fy­ing com­pe­ti­tion events for the Nation­al Senior Games.

Past Ster­ling Friend­ship Award Winners

1998 Ray Mey­er
For­mer DePaul Uni­ver­si­ty bas­ket­ball coach

1999 The Hon­or­able Vir­ginia Mac­don­ald
For­mer Illi­nois State Representative

2000 William Warfield
Gram­my-Award-win­ning bass-baritone

2001 Har­ry Volk­man
Long­time Chicagoland weath­er forecaster

2002 Art Lin­klet­ter
Nation­al­ly known radio and tele­vi­sion personality 

2003 Dr. Joyce Broth­ers
Psy­chol­o­gist, author, and tele­vi­sion personality

2004 Willard Scott
NBC ​“Today” show weath­er­man and tele­vi­sion personality

2005 Dr. Mar­garet Tay­lor Goss Bur­roughs
Founder of the DuS­able Muse­um of African Amer­i­can His­to­ry in Chicago

2006 Ruth Park
Schaum­burg Civic Leader and co-founder of the Schaum­burg Busi­ness Association

2007 Tom Jaeger
Pres­i­dent Emer­i­tus and Con­sult­ing Prin­ci­pal of Jaeger, Nick­o­la & Asso­ciates Ltd., Architects

2008 Michael Mad­den
Direc­tor of the Schaum­burg Town­ship Dis­trict Library

2009 Robert M. ​“Bob” Alston
CEO of Friend­ship Senior Options/​Friendship Village

2010 Bill Kur­tis and Wal­ter Jacob­son
Famed Chica­go newsmen

2011 The Alex­i­an Broth­ers
Catholic Order

2012 Al Lar­son
May­or of Schaum­burg, Illinois

2013 Mer­ri Dee
Chica­go com­mu­ni­ty activist, WGN-TV anchor, author and AARP Illi­nois State President

2014 Jim Edgar
For­mer Gov­er­nor of Illinois

2015 Lar­ry Min­nix
Pres­i­dent and CEO of LeadingAge

2016 John and Rita Can­ning
Com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers and renowned philanthropists

2017 AARP
Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of Retired Persons

2018 Dr. Robyn I. Stone
Senior Vice Pres­i­dent of Research for Lead­ing Age