University Park, Pa. (Nov. 16, 2009) – UnitedHealthcare partnered with Learfield Sports’ Penn State Sports Properties at the beginning of the 2009 college football season to honor Nittany Lions fans who are working to improve their own health or the health of others in their family, community or workplace. Each “All Star of the Game” received a $100 gift certificate for Penn State merchandise and a chance to win the grand prize, a $200 gift certificate plus tickets and tailgate passes to the Nov. 14 game against Indiana University.

 

Susan Day of Gardners, Pa., received the grand prize for working with family and friends to start the Angels for Alyssa foundation to raise research funding for Methylmalonic Acidemia (MMA), a rare but devastating disease. MMA is a genetic disease that causes developmental delays, seizure, hypoglycemia, stroke, coma and even death. Day lost her nephew to MMA and later became a champion for a cure when her niece Alyssa was diagnosed with the disease.

 

In addition to naming her All Star of the Game, UnitedHealthcare donated $2,000 to the Angels for Alyssa foundation to help it continue its commitment to finding a cure for MMA.

 

“All of us at UnitedHealthcare are inspired by Susan’s work with Angels for Alyssa,” said Sue Schick, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania. “Her dedication gives other children and families suffering from this debilitating disease hope that someday there will be a cure. She is a true All Star in the fight against MMA.”

 

John Tull, an account executive at Penn State Sports Properties, said. “The UnitedHealthcare All Star of the Game promotion is one of the most meaningful community promotions I have ever been involved with in my 20-year sports marketing career.”

 

Other All Stars recognized this football season were John Page of Downers Grove, Ill.; Katrina Domkowski of Dallas, Pa.; L. Ramon Beiler of New Berlin, Pa.; Greg Underkoffler of Myerstown, Pa.; Dan Mosel of Harrisburg, Pa.; Peter Augulis of Wayne, N.J.; Cynthia Wolf of State College, Pa.; and Yvonne Dunn of Lewistown, Pa.

 

About Penn State Sports Properties

Penn State Sports Properties (PSSP), a property of Learfield Sports, is the multimedia rights holder for Penn State Athletics. Learfield Sports, which manages rights for nearly 50 collegiate institutions and associations, provides exclusive sports programming to more than 1,000 radio stations nationwide and titles the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup in conjunction with NADA and USA Today. Learfield Sports is an operating unit of Jefferson City, Missouri-based Learfield Communications, Inc., which entered the world of sports marketing in 1975. For more information, visit www.learfieldsports.com.

 

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare (www.unitedhealthcare.com) provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to individuals, public sector employers and businesses of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. The company organizes access to quality, affordable health care services on behalf of more than 25 million individual consumers, contracting directly with more than 600,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals to offer them broad, convenient access to services nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

 

Posted on Monday, November 16, 2009