Georgia’s Murray, Couch To Be Honored Tuesday At Peach Of An Athlete Banquet
By Danny Bishop
University of Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray and gymnast Noel Couch will be honored at the Peach of an Athlete Role Model Banquet at the Cobb Energy Centre in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Murray and Couch were named Peach of an Athlete honorees by the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and Murray was named the overall male winner. They are among 12 collegiate student-athletes statewide to be honored.
The Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America annually holds the Peach of an Athlete Role Model Banquet, an event designed to honor students who excel in academics, athletics and service to the community.
The Peach of an Athlete awards banquet has recognized deserving athletes whose character, scholastic achievement, athletic excellence and commitment to community service most closely match the aims and ideals of the Scouting program. The goal of the banquet is to raise funds for the Boy Scouts, while honoring amateur and professional athletes who daily provide a positive role model for area youth.
Murray’s list of community service projects includes volunteering with the Special Olympics, Extra Special People, the Wheelchair Football Championships, Healing Place Of Athens, Camp Sunshine and Bulldogs Battling Breast Cancer, as well as taking part in reading and after school programs at local elementary schools and visiting patients at several hospitals.
A native of Tampa, Fla., Murray also participated in the Extra Special People’s “Big Hearts Pageant,” a fundraiser for the organization assisting individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, Read Across America, the national program to read a story to young students to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Seuss, and the UGA Catholic Center 5K Human Race, an event that benefits a trio of charities.
A native of Towaco, N.J., Couch is a member of the UGA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and her activities with SAAC include raising money for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, collecting money to purchase Thanksgiving dinners for families in need, volunteering at the annual Special Olympics “Home Runs for Hometown Rivals” baseball game, and serving meals to the homeless. She was awarded the Hornsby Howell Community Service Award for her work in the Athens area.
Couch was also a speaker for Girl Power Day, an event for underprivileged youth and girl scouts. In addition, she coached and interacted with participants at Special Olympics gymnastics practices. Couch also supported and aided Special Olympics participants in the SOAR 5K Race and led a warm up for the participants, and she also volunteered for the ‘In Her Shoes’ Breast Cancer Awareness Walk/Run.