Buick Teams with NCAA to Celebrate Human Achievement

‘Human Highlight Reel’ to Share Inspiring Stories of Former Student-Athletes

DETROIT – Winners in college sports are well documented, but the victories earned by campus champions away from the game are often more impactful, yet rarely get the same attention. That’s why, as part of a new corporate partnership, Buick, NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports will shine a spotlight on the accomplishments of former student-athletes making a difference in their communities.

Buick and NCAA will tell inspiring true stories of human achievement through the Buick Human Highlight Reel.For the featured former student-athletes, victory occurs away from the game when they apply the lessons of sport to community involvement, reaching out to help and connect in exhilarating ways.

The Buick Human Highlight Reel will launch at the beginning of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. A collection and archive of complete stories will appear online at www.ncaa.com/buick. Additionally, Buick will be the exclusive title sponsor of a 30-minute television show featuring select Human Highlight Reel stories that will air prior to the 2011 NCAA Men’s Final Four^® semifinal games on April 2. Selected video profiles also will air during preliminary-round tournament coverage on truTV.

The filmmaking project complements the recently announced Buick Achievers Scholarship Program, which will provide up to $4.5 million-a-year in scholarship funds to 1,100 college-bound students nationwide who excel both in the classroom and in the community. The scholarships are renewable for up to five years.

“While the scholarship program will help foster the next generation of leaders, the Buick Human Highlight Reel will celebrate former college student-athletes who are leading winning efforts in their communities,” said Tony DiSalle, U.S. vice president of Buick marketing. “By sharing their stories Buick and our partners hope to inspire others to go above and beyond to help others achieve their fullest potential in life.”

Among the former student-athletes to be featured in the Buick Human Highlight Reel are:

• Cullen Jones, who swam for North Carolina State University and became the second African-American in history to win an Olympic Gold medal in the sport. Jones works with the USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash program to teach minority children how to swim.

• Emmanuel Ohonme, who played basketball at the University of North Dakota, is the founder of Samaritan’s Feet, a non-profit organization that has provided shoes to more than 3 million children in 40 countries.

• Avery Jukes, who played basketball in last year’s championship game for Butler University, and is the founder of Jukes Foundation for Kids, a non-profit entity dedicated to providing food, clothing and educational resources to youth in the United States and Uganda.

• Sean James, who was an all-conference sprinter and played football at Missouri State University, founded Sean James Student Athletes, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships for under-privileged youth to sports and creative arts camps.

“The Buick Human Highlight Reel shows the continued leadership and dedication that student-athletes have once they complete their academic programs and become active in their communities or involved with broad initiatives that have a positive influence on the lives of others,” said Peter Davis, NCAA director of championships and alliances.

“Through this partnership, Buick will have the ability to create year-round branded content, distributed on multiple NCAA media platforms including NCAA.com, around all 26 NCAA Championship sports,” said Will Funk, senior vice president of NCAA Partnerships and Branded Programming within Turner Sports Ad Sales.

In addition to the televised stories, the Buick Human Highlight Reel’s online component will feature videos by filmmakers associated with Zooppa, a creative social network with more than 100,000 members. These amateur filmmakers will create 60-second mini-documentaries about former student-athletes who are making a difference.

Also planned for the Buick Human Highlight Reel website is a “Tell Us Your Story” section, which will enable fans to share stories about their favorite NCAA “difference makers.”

“By telling powerful stories of former student-athletes as part of the Human Highlight Reel video series and enabling future leaders to emerge through the Achievers Scholarship Program, Buick has clearly demonstrated their commitment to the broader NCAA community,” said Chris Simko, senior vice president, CBS Sports Sales and Marketing and director, CBS Sports Properties Group.