Carolina Panthers head coach & Bills legend Frank Reich to present 20th anniversary Call to Courage Award to Arizona Cardinals' Zach Ertz

Event at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Buffalo May 6 also features ‘The Voice’ finalists Cami Clune & Joshua Vacanti

The 20th anniversary edition of the popular Call to Courage Awards breakfast will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 6, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Buffalo. The event is sponsored by the Buffalo Pro Ministry of Athletes in Action.

The new Carolina Panthers Head Coach Frank Reich, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback who engineered “The Greatest Comeback in NFL Playoff History,” will return to Buffalo for his 20th Call to Courage Awards breakfast as host.

“Our 20th anniversary of the Call to Courage Awards breakfast is really going to be something special,” he said.

Reich will present the 2023 Call to Courage Award to Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz, who was coached by Reich when both were part of the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl LII Championship team in 2018.

Also featured on the program this year are two local powerhouse vocal artists, Cami Clune and Joshua Vacanti, who were both finalists on the hit TV show “The Voice.”

A press release stated, “The Call to Courage Awards breakfast is Reich’s way of thanking the Western New York community for the love and appreciation that was displayed to him and his family while he was a member of the Buffalo Bills during those great Super Bowl years.

“Each year, Reich presents the Call to Courage Award to a current NFL player who has exemplified outstanding character, commitment and leadership on and off the field and in the community.”

The breakfast has featured some of the game’s biggest names over the past 20 years. NFL standouts Kurt Warner, Chad Pennington, Curtis Martin, Don Davis, Bob Christian, Trent Dilfer, John Kasay, Jon Kitna, Heath Evans, London Fletcher, Ben Watson, Thomas Davis, Jeff Saturday, Kyle Williams, Scott Chandler, Lorenzo Alexander, Demario Davis, Andy Dalton and Nick Foles are previous award-winners.

NFL writer Vic Carucci and former WGRZ-TV news anchor Jodi Quatroche are this year’s co-emcees.

Another feature at this year’s Call to Courage Awards breakfast will be a roundtable discussion moderated by Carucci about the “State of the NFL and the Buffalo Bills,” with a panel of experts including Buffalo Bills safety Micah Hyde, Reich, WGRZ-TV Sports Director Adam Benigni and Bills NFL sideline reporter Sal Capaccio.

Also on the program will be a special panel featuring Buffalo Bills team chaplain Len Vanden Bos and his wife, Char, along with Cincinnati Bengals team chaplain Vincent Rey and his wife, Noel.

In addition to the presentation of the NFL winner of the Call to Courage Award, the High School Call to Courage Award will also be given to an outstanding member of a Western New York high school football team. The winner this year is senior quarterback Trey Drake from Jamestown High School.

The Call to Courage Awards breakfast is open to the public. Tickets are $50 each. For sponsorship and ticket information, call 716-559-1800.