SERVPRO Honors First Responders During its 12th Annual First Responder’s Bowl

12/18/2023 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of West Somerset is excited to announce that this year’s SERVPRO® First Responder Bowl, the only college football game dedicated to honoring first responders, is scheduled to take place on Dec. 26^th at Southern Methodist University’s (SMU’s) Gerald J. Ford Stadium. The First Responder Bowl is an NCAA post-season college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas, Texas area. The game can be watched live on ESPN at 4:30 p.m. CT.

“SERVPRO Team Harvey is proud to be a part of an organization dedicated to honoring these heroes. First responders go above and beyond the call of duty to protect our loved ones and deserve to be honored. Often in our line of work, we can’t do our job until these heroes have done theirs. It’s only after first responders provide lifesaving support that we can go about putting our customers’ lives back to normal,” said Lance Harvey, Owner/President of SERVPRO of Aberdeen/Holmdel.

Each year in preparation for this game, SERVPRO® franchises are asked to reach out to local first responders to gather nominations for the annual Award of Excellence. Nominees eligible for the award are first responders who have done something remarkable during the nominating year, and include first responders who have been injured, mentors, retirees, and fallen first responders. The recipient of the award wins an expense paid trip to the game where he or she is publicly honored.

This year, the Award of Excellence will be given to a team rather than to an individual. The recipients are members of the Metro Nashville Police Department who responded to an active shooter event at a school that resulted in the death of six people. Detective Michael Collazo, Sergeant Jeff Mathes, Officer Rex Engelbert, Detective Ryan Cagle, and Detective Zachary Plese entered the school without hesitation, methodically swept the building, and neutralized the threat. There is no question that their actions saved more lives.

“We’ve trained for incidents like this for years with the thoughts that if it ever happened, we would not hesitate, we would go in, and we would do whatever was needed for the safety of those involved,” John Drake, the Nashville police chief, said at a news conference about a week after the shooting.

The first SERVPRO® First Responder Bowl was first held on January 1, 2011, and since 2014 it has played in late December. In 2019, the Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) became the permanent home of the game.

Harvey said, “We want our local first responders know how much we appreciate them, and we are hoping they take the time to gather together to enjoy a game played in their honor.”