What the Life of Significance Award Really Means

We will soon begin the nomination process for this year’s Penn Mutual Life of Significance Award. Introduced last year, the award is given annually to a collegiate rugby player participating in the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship who best exemplifies Penn Mutual’s values of integrity, commitment and respect, and has made substantial contributions to society and their community.

One of the reasons Penn Mutual is so enthusiastic about the sport of rugby is that it instills a strong sense of values among its players — community spirit, loyalty, respect. Madison Hughes, Olympic hopeful and CRC alumnus, who we are sponsoring in his bid as the captain of the U.S. Men’s rugby sevens team, has remarked that when you are on the field, even at the height of competition, you still put a hand out to help an opponent who has taken a really hard hit … that is living your values.

The Life of Significance Award is not focused on achievements on the pitch. The MVP of the team, the high scorer, is not necessarily going to win the award. Instead, we look for a player who exemplifies the values of integrity, commitment and respect, both on and off the pitch.

The point of the award is the honor itself. Additionally, a $5,000 charitable donation is given to the charity of the recipient’s choice, and $1,000 worth of rugby equipment is given to the school’s rugby team. The individual athlete does not benefit personally from the award other than doing the right thing in the first place and being able to contribute in an unexpected way to the community and to their team.

Here are the five values we look for in candidates for the Life of Significance Award:

Act with integrity. Doing the right thing. One of our intern candidates recently commented that he’s shocked when he watches British football because of the way the players talk to the refs. He said that he and his fellow rugby players would never talk to a ref that way even if they were mad. That’s acting with integrity. In the height of passion, you still have to do the right thing.

Respect one another. Holding your hand out for an opponent when they’re down on the ground. Shaking hands with an opponent at the end of the game and complimenting them on a hard tackle, even if it’s of you.

Focus on relationships. Rugby is all about community. After the game, rugby players traditionally get together and eat and drink. Even as fearsome a team as the New Zealand National Team, the All Blacks, will open up their locker room after a match and invite their opponents in, win or lose, to sit down and share refreshments.

Sustain our legacy. We have a rich history here at Penn Mutual, and we respect the past, even as we continually move forward. Rugby has that same value. The game has a rich heritage, but it is moving quickly ahead as well. It is the fastest-growing team sport in the U.S. The players also understand that each individual represents the sport of rugby before the rest of the world. We believe that as well. Each individual employee or associate is a brand ambassador for Penn Mutual.

Promote a shared sense of belonging. We’re part of a bigger world, and we all need to do our part to make that world a better place. Community service — not just for the team but for the entire community — is a big factor in selecting an award winner.

Last year’s award was given to David Schroeder, then a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy and now serving as an officer in the Marine Corps. You can read his perspective on the meaning of the Life of Significance Award here, but I’d like to share some background on two other candidates from last year, just to give you a sense of the strength of character and the commitment to values that we found among the collegiate athletes. Below are quotes from their nomination forms.

Rydell Curtis, nominated by his coach.

Then a junior at New Mexico Highlands University, Rydell was raised on the Navajo Reservation in a very rural environment with modest processions and services. Rydell tragically lost his brother in 2009. Although just graduated from high school himself, and financially challenged to attend university, Rydell personally started an academic scholarship in his brother’s name through Newcomb High School in Naschitti, New Mexico. Rydell supports this scholarship and himself as a professional bull rider. This is truly unique, not to mention inspiring to other young Navajos.

Rydell gently and effectively crosses cultures. Always unselfish, never profane, and a kind leader by quiet example, Rydell is a personification of the Penn Mutual values. “I have mentored thousands of university students in my career,” wrote his coach. “I know of no better awardee than Rydell Curtis. He makes the Navajo Nation very proud and the USA stronger.”

Samantha (Sam) Reeves, nominated by her teammate.

Sam started playing rugby for Kutztown beginning in the Fall of 2013. In June of 2014, she broke both her fibula and tibia while playing in a rugby tournament. Rushed to surgery at Hershey Medical, her doctor later told her that it be at least a year and a half before she could play rugby again. Sam vowed she would be back playing by the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship the next May, less than 11 months after her injury.

When the fall season came around, even though Sam was unable to play, she came to every practice, lifting session and game. Often, when a player has a traumatic injury, they change as a person, becoming bitter over what they have lost. Sam stayed true to herself through her entire injury. She put the team before herself on multiple occasions, leading by example. In January, seven months after her injury, Sam was cleared to play rugby. She played for Kutztown in the 2015 CRCs.

So, for those of you hoping to play at the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship, think of who you might nominate for this year’s Penn Mutual Life of Significance Award. Beginning early March, we will send notice to the coaches of the teams that have been invited to the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship and its affiliated championships, giving them a head start on the nomination process. The award is limited to teams in the CRC Division, the NSCRO (National Small College Rugby Organization) Division, the Women’s Division, and Philadelphia Championship Division.

“Rugby is Life,” as they say. The Penn Mutual Life of Significance Award is a recognition of the important values at the core of the sport and how those values resonate both on and off the pitch.

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