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 2006 Jimmy Collins Awards to the New Orleans Saints Fans and to Doug Thornton.

Faith has been defined as belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. The New Orleans Saints’ fans long-standing belief that their team would reward them with a championship contender has embodied for four decades what faith is all about. But the months following Hurricane Katrina tested even Saints’ fans steely resolve. The organization set up shop in San Antonio because of damage to the Superdome and struggled to a 3-13 record.
 
The franchise returned to a badly battered city with an uncertain future. Amid the powerful financial and emotional hardship that accompanied the arduous recovery, Saints fans showed that their faith was stronger than ever. Even as the levees surrounding their city, insurance companies and government agencies proved unworthy of faith in a time of crisis, Saints fans by the thousands reaffirmed their unfailing faith in one of the worst teams in the National Football League.
 
Saints fans bought every ticket to every Saints game before the team even started training camp. With the smoldering ashes of a 3-13 season the most recent image of their team in their mind, Saints fans marched to the ticket line like never before. Nearly seventy thousand season tickets sold, most in franchise history.
 
Saints fans had always demonstrated a patience that would make Job look antsy by comparison. And just when a reward for faith and patience seemed least likely, funny things started to happen. A bright, young NFL assistant named Sean Payton, who had meticulously crafted his resume for just the right head coaching job, decided this team in this city at this time was just the right job for him.
 
The top free agent on the NFL market, quarterback Drew Brees, saw an opportunity that transcended football and decided to jump on board the rebuilding Saints, who were quickly becoming the symbol of a rebuilding city.
 
Other free agents followed, then the Houston Texans inexplicably used the first pick in the NFL draft on Mario Williams, and the most eagerly anticipated NFL rookie in years – Reggie Bush – fell into New Orleans’ lap.
 
Stranger things began to happen: a 3-0 start, an NFC South Division championship, a first-ever playoff bye, a second-ever playoff victory, and a trip to the NFC Championship Game for the first time.
 
With each passing day and milestone, the Saints’ faithful, in between rebuilding their city and their lives, had logic and material evidence to suggest that maybe there is no such thing as a lost cause.
 
It all started when Saints fans showed their faith by selling out the 2006 season on season tickets alone, and now 2007 has followed suit with the formation of a waiting list that could wrap around the Superdome.
 
For their faith and support of their football team, the New Orleans Saints fans were recognized by the Allstate Sugar Bowl with a Jimmy Collins Award for 2006.