May 23, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
University of Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen was recently named father of the year by the Washington D.C. Father's Day Council.
Friedgen will be honored at the 2007 Father's Day Council Dinner on Thursday, June 14, along with three other honorees from the D.C. area. This is the seventh annual Father's Day Awards Dinner, an event which benefits the American Diabetes Association.
Since taking over as head coach in 2001, Friedgen has returned Maryland to prominence on the national scene, leading his alma mater to a 50-24 record in his first six seasons. Friedgen has also won a school record three straight bowl games, the latest coming this past season with a 24-7 victory over Purdue in the Champ Sports Bowl.
In his first season with the team in 2001, Friedgen won consensus national coach of the year honors while leading the Terps to their first ACC Championship since 1985 and clinching a berth in the FedEx Orange Bowl. Friedgen became the first ACC head coach to lead a team to three straight seasons of 10 or more wins.
As a former standout in his playing days for the Terrapins, Friedgen spent most of his career as an offensive lineman, lettering in 1966 and `68 and capturing Academic All-ACC honors. He was a two-time winner of the George C. Cook Memorial Award (1968-69) for having the highest academic average on the football team.
Ralph and his wife, Gloria, have three daughters: Kelly, Kristina and Katie.
The Washington D.C. Father's Day Council award has been handed out since 2001 to exemplary fathers and dynamic community leaders. Past recipients include Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell and former Washington Wizards star Jerry Stackhouse.
This year's other honorees are Richard B. Becker, CEO of The George Washington University Hospital, Benjamin Greenspoon, the former national chairman of the American Diabetes Association, and Larry A. Rice, the regional president of First Horizon Home Loans.
