Company Honors Individuals Most Responsible for Helping American Athletes

                             Reach Their Goals



    AKRON, Ohio, July 28 /EMWNews/ -- In a nod to its products that help

millions of Americans reach their destinations on a daily basis, The

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company today 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.



    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

http://www.goodyeartires.com.