Sugar Bowl

While there are many different categories of awards presented by the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, some years the Committee finds that there are people deserving of recognition who do not necessarily fit into one specific category. For that reason, the Committee presents the Jimmy Collins Awards to outstanding individuals and organizations.
 

Collins was a longtime supporter of New Orleans sports who is credited with creating the New Orleans Sports Awards and forming the awards committee in 1958.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl presented 2005 Jimmy Collins Awards to Paul Tagliabue and Arnold Fielkow as well as to the LSU Athletic Department.

The two most valuable people to the New Orleans Saints and their fans during the turbulent days following Hurricane Katrina wore suits instead of football uniforms. With the team displaced to San Antonio, the Superdome unusable for at least the 2005 season, and the city of New Orleans’ viability as the home for an NFL franchise uncertain, the future of the Saints was very much in doubt. But amid all this uncertainty two men – former Saints Director of Administration Arnold Fielkow and then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue – were certain that the Saints belonged to and in New Orleans and must return to the Crescent City as soon as it was feasible.
 
Fielkow’s tenure with the Saints would end just weeks after the team set up headquarters in San Antonio, but not before he stood up for the Crescent City and insisted the stay in Texas be as brief as possible. After leaving the organization, Fielkow and his family immediately returned to New Orleans to help with the recovery and he has become even more involved in the Crescent City’s comeback since being elected a Councilman At-Large in New Orleans.
 
Tagliabue personally took control of the Saints’ listing ship in what would turn out to be the final major accomplishment in his 17 years as NFL Commissioner. He moved quickly to schedule the Saints’ home opener against the Giants for Giants Stadium as part of a nationwide fund-raiser for Hurricane Relief on Monday Night Football. Although the venue gave the Saints’ opponent a competitive edge in the game, it was necessary to give a big boost to much-needed hurricane relief.
 
Tagliabue next brokered a deal for the Saints to play four home games at LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, a move that helped reunite fans with their estranged team and sent a strong symbolic message that the franchise belonged to Louisiana. Tagliabue continued to visit New Orleans regularly to facilitate the franchise’s return, to assess the recovery of the city, and to accelerate the repairing of the Superdome. The commissioner worked hand-in-and with Saints, Superdome, civic, business and governmental leaders to set and achieve ambitious goals for the Saints’ return to the Superdome.
 
The history-making success that the Saints enjoyed during their 2006 season back in New Orleans was no more impressive than the whirlwind series of accomplishments that in a few short months turned the New Orleans Saints from a displaced franchise with an uncertain future to a successful franchise anchored in its birthplace, caressed by a bond with its community that’s not like any other. For this, the Allstate Sugar Bowl recognized Arnold Fielkow and Paul Tagliabue with a Jimmy Collins Award for 2005.