Dr. Tom Catena Named NCAA Theodore Roosevelt Award Recipient

Dear Friends,

We want to share an update on our friend Dr. Tom Catena that shows how valuable your support is for our Blue Rock Golf Outing, which benefits his life-saving mission at Mother of Mercy Hospital in Sudan.

Dr. Tom, a medical missionary who has voluntarily stayed in war-torn Nuba Mountains over the last 15 years to save thousands of lives, has been honored with the 2024 Theodore Roosevelt Award.

The “Teddy” is the highest honor the NCAA may confer on an individual. It is presented annually to a distinguished citizen of national reputation and outstanding accomplishment who graduated from an NCAA member institution and earned a varsity athletics award or participated in competitive intercollegiate athletics. Past honorees include Dwight D. Eisenhower (the first in 1967),  Jesse Owens, Ronald Reagan, John Glenn, and Madeline Albright.

Dr. Tom is a former All-American football player and mechanical engineering major at Brown University and a Duke University School of Medicine graduate.

As medical director, head doctor, and surgeon at Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, Dr. Tom can see as many as 350 patients a day and oversees the 435-bed hospital.

Dr. Tom’s impactful work has been recognized several times in recent years. He won the 2017 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, the 2018 Catholics in Media Associates Social Justice Award, and the 2020 Gerson L’Chaim Prize for outstanding Christian medical missionary service.

Dr. Tom is hailed as “the world’s most important doctor” to more than a million patients in Sudan. Additionally, Time Magazine named Dr. Tom “One of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World,” and he was the subject of a 2015 Nicholas Kristof New York Times opinion piece titled, “He’s Jesus Christ.”

Since 2017, the Blue Rock Heart of Nuba Golf Outing has raised over $1.1 million and it all goes directly to Dr. Tom.

Once again, thank you so much for your generosity. We hope to see you again at our next golf outing as we continue to support  Dr. Tom and his mission.