McNamara Named Finalist for Hockey Humanitarian Award

HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/2/12) – Kevin McNamara, a senior co-captain on the Colgate men's hockey team, was selected as a finalist for the 2012 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award on Thursday.

The award founders John R. Greenhalgh and Jeffrey Millman describe the Humanitarian Award as an honor that is meant to be seen as a true measure of a person's worth, not just as an athlete, but as someone who embodies those values that merit our recognition.

The award's committee started with 23 well-deserving candidates for the 2012 award and the field was narrowed down to five with the recipient set to be announced at the 2012 Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla., on April 6. The announcement will be part of the awards ceremony between the two national semifinals and national championship.

"Reading up on some of the incredible work that the other finalists have done makes this a humbling honor,” said McNamara. “It is also great to see two members of the Goals For Good family (Tucker Mullin of the Thomas E. Smith Fight to Cure Paralysis and Aleca Hughes of the Mandi Schwartz Foundation) being recognized for their efforts. We still have more work to do with the auction coming up and only four weeks left in the season, so I hope this announcement will help bring a little extra attention to all of our charities."

The auction McNamara mentioned will be held from Feb. 3-18. Goals for Good will be handling, along with the women's hockey Autism Awareness Project, the online auction and also a raffle for other items that are not included in the auction. Fans can access the online auction through the Goals for Good website or the organization's Facebook page. Items to be auctioned include an NHL All-Star signed jersey from Henrik Lundqvist, Marian Gaborik & Dan Girardi of the New York Rangers and signed jerseys by Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Ray Allen and Jim Craig of the 1980 Olympic Team.

In April of 2011, McNamara of Chestnut, Mass., started a charitable initiative called Goals for Good, which provides a vehicle whereby people can donate to the non-profit organization of their choice through collegiate hockey. Created as a friendly competition, collegiate clubs can tally their donations by goal, by win, or by weekend if they choose, and at the end of each week teams are put into standings based on the amount of money raised. He has connected every ECAC Hockey team to a partnering charity, and has obtained three major sponsors for the initiative.

He has a done an exceptional job with the first-year initiative. He writes all the press releases, set up sponsors and built the website with the help of friends. McNamara also deals with the social media on getting the word out there about the initiative. Aside from being a leader on the ice and a captain he has served as a SAAC rep and a member of the Colgate Leadership Academy.

McNamara, a sociology and anthropology major, is also deeply involved in area food and toy drives, an initiative initially started by former Raider teammate and 2010 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient Ethan Cox. He works with the Hamilton Food Cupboard and Interfaith Commission to help those in need throughout the community with the food and toy drives.

“He is the complete package and is the epitome of a student athlete,” said head coach Don Vaughan. “He is conscientious and determined and that is reflected in his work in the classroom and on the ice. He has developed in his time at Colgate into a more complete player and plays in all situations for us. He has played a leadership role for us since the day he arrived on campus.”

On the ice, McNamara has enjoyed one of his best seasons in a Colgate uniform with a goal and nine assists. He has played in 20 games this season, but has missed the last few weeks due to an injury. He has been on campus since the 2007-08 season and came back from a knee injury that cost him the entire 2008-09 season.

He and the 20th-ranked Raiders will be traveling to the Capital District this weekend to take on No. 11/12 Union and Rensselaer.