Tuesday, May 27, 2014

BURNABY, BC - Super Bowl Champion and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson will join Grey Cup Champion and Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant and Canadian broadcasting legend Brian Williams at Simon Fraser University’s annual Gathering of the Clan athletic fundraising breakfast, taking place Friday  at the Vancouver Convention Centre West.

The Gathering of the Clan Breakfast is the flagship fundraising event for SFU Athletics. Entering its fifth year, the breakfast has raised more than $1 million for student-athlete scholarships at Canada’s only NCAA institution.

Past speakers at the Gathering of the Clan include NFL Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, Olympic gold medalists Daniel Igali and Haley Wickenheiser, and former NBA head coach Jay Triano.

Williams will act as host at the Gathering of the Clan Breakfast for the first time.

Due to a scheduling conflict, Wilson and Durant will replace Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who was originally tapped to participate at the breakfast.

Wilson, who led the Seahawks to a 43-8 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, will be interviewed by Gathering of the Clan host Williams via live video feed from Seattle, while Durant will appear live at the Convention Centre.

After playing his collegiate football at North Carolina State University and the University of Wisconsin, Wilson was drafted by the Seahawks 75th overall in the 2012 NFL Draft.

His impact on the Seahawks was immediate; after starting all 16 games as a rookie Wilson was named the NFL’s 2012 Pepsi Rookie of the Year and represented the Seahawks in the Pro Bowl, while tying Peyton Manning’s record for most TD passes by a rookie (26).

That early success carried into Wilson’s sophomore season, when he led Seattle to a 13-3 regular season record, the NFC West title, and a No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The Seahawks then posted playoff wins over New Orleans and San Francisco, before Wilson threw for 206 yards, two touchdowns and a 123.1 passer rating in the Seahawks Super Bowl victory over Denver.

Durant joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders after playing his college football at the University of North Carolina, and one season on the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.

Currently entering his ninth season in the CFL, Durant is coming off a career year, throwing for 31 touchdowns in 2013 as he led the Riders to their fourth Grey Cup Championship on their home field with a 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

With a career that spans over 40 years in the field, he is renowned as one of the most respected broadcasters in the country. In 2011, the Winnipeg native was named to the Order of Canada for both his broadcasting career and extensive community and volunteer work.

In 2010 and 2012 Williams anchored CTV's primetime Olympic coverage for the Vancouver and London Olympic Games, while his endless resume extends to 14 Olympics as well as numerous high-profile sporting events from around the globe, including work with the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, PGA Tour, Canadian and World Figure Skating Championships, World Cup Skiing, men's and women's Rogers Cup events in Toronto and Montreal, Formula One, IRL, Breeders' Cup, Pan Am Games, and Commonwealth Games.

In 2011, he received an honorary degree from SFU, and delivered the commencement address to that year's graduating class.

Individual tickets to the Gathering of the Clan are $200, while tables of ten are available for $2000 each. For tickets or inquiries, please call 778.782.9426, or visit: http://www.sfu.ca/ceremonies/events/2014/public-events/clan_breakfast.html. The deadline for purchasing tickets is Wednesday, May 28.

Simon Fraser University is consistently ranked among Canada's top comprehensive universities and is one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old. With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 125,000 alumni in 130 countries.