(L to R): Tim Murphy, The Thomas Stephenson Family Head
Coach for Harvard Football, Matt Birk '98, Brian Hehir '75, the
chair of Friends of Harvard Football, and Bob Scalise, The Nichols
Family Director of Athletics, at the IFA reception Thursday evening
(Denis Gostev).
NEW YORK
— Harvard Athletics and the Ivy
League honored the lifelong contributions of Matt Birk '98
during the 2015 Ivy Football Association Dinner Thursday night at
the Sheraton Times Square.
The IFA Dinner, led by co-masters of ceremonies Chris
Berman, a 1977 Brown graduate and ESPN personality, and
award-winning journalist Jack Ford, a 1972 graduate of Yale,
recognized the on- and off-field achievements of Birk and the seven
other 2015 IFA honorees: George Pyne (Brown '88), Archie
Roberts (Columbia '65), General John Paxton, Jr. (Cornell
'73), Kenneth DeHaven (Dartmouth '61), Terry Hensle
(Penn '64), William Powers (Princeton '79) and
Alexander Cutler (Yale '73).
Each of the eight guests of honor had a chance to address
the audience. Birk spoke about the impact on his life made by
football and playing for Harvard and in the Ivy League. He praised
the ideals of the Ivy League and expressed his gratitude to Harvard
for the difference it has made in his life on and off the
field.
Matt Birk '98, the National Football League's director of
football development, graduated from Harvard with a degree in
economics in 1998. An offensive lineman, Birk earned All-Ivy League
and All-ECAC honors and was the first Crimson lineman to be
selected in the NFL draft since Roger Caron '85 in 1985.
The NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2012, Birk was
a standout center for the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens
from 1998-2012 and concluded his career by helping Baltimore to a
victory in Super Bowl XLVII. He spent the 2013 season working as an
NFL-NFLPA appeals officer.
In his new role with the NFL, Birk assists in developing
the game at all levels of the sport, from players to coaches to
front office personnel. He also assists in the administration of
NFL game day operations. Birk guides the continued evolution of the
Scouting Combine and Regional Combines as well as the annual
all-star games for aspiring NFL players, such as the Senior Bowl
and East-West Shrine Game.
