Video: Goodyear Announces Winners of Special Goodyear 'Get there' Award

Company Honors Individuals Most Responsible for Helping American Athletes
Reach Their Goals

AKRON, Ohio, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- In a nod to its products that help
millions of Americans reach their destinations on a daily basis, The Goodyear
Tire & Rubber Company announced the three medal winners of the Goodyear 'Get
there' Award, a recognition program designed to honor those most responsible
for helping American athletes achieve their dream of competing on the world's
greatest stage in China. The program highlights the often little-known
stories of those people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help
America's athletes achieve their goals.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to:
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/goodyear/34201/

Goodyear's selection panel included Olympic decathlon Gold Medalist and
three-time World Champion Dan O'Brien. The three medal award winners were
selected from amongst 28 individual honorees representing each major sport
discipline and recognized for their extraordinary efforts to help the athletes
excel.
"Having faced adversity in life and in sport, I know firsthand how
important family, coaches and mentors can be to an athlete trying to become
the best in the world," said O'Brien, the 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist and
three-time World Champion. "Each of the 28 individuals being recognized with
the Goodyear 'Get there' Award has proved to today's athletes what I learned
when I was competing: that the support of people like them can uplift athletes
and help them achieve their goals in even the most stressful times."
"Goodyear is committed to developing best-in-class innovations and
breakthrough technologies that help consumers reach their destinations... or
'Get there,'" said Joey Viselli, Director of the Goodyear Brand. "What better
embodiment of that philosophy than to honor those unsung heroes that have
helped American athletes 'Get there' to the ultimate athletic stage."
The three medal winners, selected by a Goodyear panel spearheaded by
O'Brien, will be presented with the special Goodyear 'Get there' Award and
include:
-- James Ravannack, Metairie, LA, for his support of wrestler Daniel
Cormier
Coach Jim Ravannack is like a second dad to Daniel Cormier, whose father
was murdered when he was seven. Growing up in a tough neighborhood in
northeast Lafayette, Cormier showed great promise by the time he entered high
school, and that is when Ravannack, a successful businessman and leader within
international wrestling, took him in. With the help of Ravannack, Daniel
would become a three-time state champion, a two-time junior college
All-American Wrestler and a medalist at the Cadet World Championships.
Over these years, Ravannack helped keep Cormier moving in the right
direction, bringing him home to New Orleans each summer to continue training.
Ravannack saw Cormier through the deaths of a high school teammate, a college
friend and a cousin, and got him a tryout at Oklahoma State, allowing Daniel
to transfer from Colby (Kan.) Community College.
Ravannack helped Cormier battle back from a broken arm that kept him out
of the 2000 Olympic Games, but just as he was peaking in training for the 2004
Olympic Games, tragedy struck again: his infant daughter, Kaedyn, died in a
car accident. When Cormier revealed the baby didn't have a headstone,
Ravannack and his wife purchased one. Trials for the 2004 Olympic team were
scheduled the same week the grieving parents buried their baby, but thanks to
Ravannack and USA Wrestling, a special wrestle-off was scheduled, and Daniel
made the team. But grief still weighed heavily, and with support from
Ravannack and USA Wrestling, Cormier saw a sports psychologist, who helped him
channel his emotion. His focus and training improved, and he is once again
heading to the Olympic Games as the only member of the U.S. freestyle team to
earn a second trip to the Games.
-- Coach Brian Barker, Monroe, CT, for his support of tennis player James
Blake
Brian Barker has been James Blake's coach for eighteen years and is one of
his closest friends and supporters. Blake attributes much of his career
success to the training and professional support he gets from Brian, and it is
the support and friendship he receives off the court that has helped him
through some of the most difficult trials of his life, including breaking his
neck while training in Rome, losing his father to cancer, suffering from
zoster and recovering from it all to return to the pro tour and qualify for
Beijing.
While it is almost unheard of for a professional tennis player to have had
the same coach since the age of 11, James Blake says he never even considered
dropping Brian Barker as he rose to become one of the best players in tennis.
Blake attributes his loyalty to Barker to his coach's deep understanding of
him as a person, his terrific understanding of the game, and his willingness
to time and again go beyond the typical role of a coach to support him as a
friend and mentor.
-- Jim Pedro, Salem, NH, for his support of judo player Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey, a Californian, is favored to become the first American to
win Olympic gold in Judo this summer, largely due to the dedication of her
coach, or sensei, Jim Pedro of Salem, N.H. Pedro, a native of Wakefield,
Mass., was a U.S. World Team coach and was inducted into the Black Belt Hall
of Fame as Instructor of the Year in 1978. He has spent the last five years
training Rousey without compensation, traveling the world extensively as her
coach at his own expense and even inviting the athlete to live in his family
home during the months of intensive work that led to the Athens Olympics
Games. He insists that all athletes who train with him finish high school or
college, and most of them also volunteer or get jobs in the community.
"Our panel found it difficult to select just three winners from among the
stories we read, as each individual showed an outstanding commitment to
helping America's aspiring athletes 'Get there,'" added Viselli. "In addition
to honoring the three winners, Goodyear is thanking all 28 honorees for their
dedication and outstanding support by helping them 'Get there' with an award
of a free set of top-of-the-line Goodyear icon technology tires."
The 25 other Goodyear 'Get there' Award honorees include:
-- Coach Alexander Kirillov from Tucson, AZ, for his support of Archer
Jennifer Nichols
-- Sharon Richards from Round Rock, TX, for her support of her daughter
400m runner Sanya Richards
-- Don Chew, Orange, CA, for his support of all five Badminton athletes
-- Terri Marzano of Philadelphia, PA, on behalf of her late husband John
Marzano, for his inspiration and support of baseball pitcher Mike Koplove
-- Arittio Fowles of Miami, FL, for her support of her daughter,
basketball player Sylvia Fowles
-- Gary Russell, Sr. of Washington, D.C., for his support of his son,
Boxer Gary Russell, Jr.
-- Coach Chris Barlow of San Diego, CA, for his support of many of today's
Canoe/Kayak athletes
-- Davis Phinney of Boulder, CO, for his support of his son, former
Olympic medalist and Tour de France stage winner Taylor Phinney
-- Former Olympian Sharon Rittenhouse from Santa Cruz, CA, for her support
of Diver Ariel Rittenhouse
-- Dr. Brendan Furlong of Oldwick, NJ, for his support of the equestrian
team athletes both human and equine
-- Former Olympian Kathy Zagunis from Beaverton, OR, for her support of
daughter Mariel and the women's sabre fencing team
-- Coach Liang Qiao Chow of Des Moines, IA, for his support of gymnast
Shawn Johnson
-- Dr. David Higgins of Olney, MD, for his support of the field hockey
team
-- Ben Sacksen of Somerset, PA, for his support of modern pentathete Sam
Sacksen
-- David and Denise Mickelson of Bellevue, WA, for their support of their
daughter, rower Anna (Mickelson) Cummins
-- Head Coach Gary Bodie of Hampton, VA, for his support of the sailing
team
-- Arnold Tarzy of Potomac, MD, for his support of soccer star Freddy Adu
-- Craig Hancock of Eatonton, GA, for his support of his son skeet shooter
Vincent Hancock
-- Head Coach Mike Candrea of Oklahoma City, OK, for his support of the
women's softball team
-- Debbie Phelps of Towson, MD, for her support of Olympic medalist
Michael Phelps
-- Jerry Wartski of New York, NY, for his support of table tennis athlete
Wang Chen
-- Coach Jimmy Kim of Laguna Niguel, CA for his support of tae kwon do
athlete Charlotte Craig
-- Ann Boudrot of Billerica, MA, for her support of triathlete Jarrod
Shoemaker
-- Arnie Ball of Woodburn, IN, for his support of his son volleyball
player Lloy Ball
-- Kyle Pierce of Shreveport, LA, for his support of weightlifter Kendrick
Farris
Goodyear is North America's largest tire company. Fortune magazine named
Goodyear the World's Most Admired Motor Vehicle Parts Company in its 2008 list
of the World's Most Admired Companies. Goodyear employs about 30,000 people
in North America and manufactures its products in more than 20 facilities.
For more information about Goodyear, go to www.goodyeartires.com.
SOURCE Goodyear

Ed Markey, of Goodyear, +1-330-796-8801; or Geoffrey Phelps of Coyne PR for
Goodyear, +1-973-316-1665