The offspring was born 30 years ago, and today it’s healthy and helping children all over the United States – with the dedicated assistance and support of the National Football League and hundreds of volunteers.

The “baby” – Lamantia’s word – is the Ed Block Courage Award (EBCA). And all it was, in the beginning, was a glimmer in the eye of a Baltimore hair stylist – Lamantia, who was a member of the city’s Eastside Athletic Club.

“We started in 1978,” Lamantia tells SETMagazine.com. “We started with one team, the Baltimore Colts. Then when the Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984, we went national with it.”

That’s the short version.

The EBCA is now a conglomerate effort of every team in the NFL (32). Each team chooses one player for the award, which is designed to recognize extraordinary displays of courage, on or off the field. The culmination is the recognition of all 32 winners during the annual event, taking place March 9-11 in Baltimore.

Lamantia had no real goal in mind when he conceived the idea, which he describes as a recurring dream finally realized.

“But I look at it like a baby. It’s born, then all of a sudden it’s 30 years old. You wonder where the time went.”

But the EBCA isn’t just an award. It’s a full-blown charity, with its aim being to help as many abused children in this country as possible.

“When we first started, and I saw some of the things that were happening to our children ... I saw some things I’ll never forget,” Lamantia says, not wanting to elaborate.

Those images in Lamantia’s head led to abused children being the targeted recipients of his foundation’s help.

The help largely comes from the Courage Houses, which began to be formed in 1989 out of the success from the annual EBCA events. Today there are Courage Houses in more than half of the NFL cities, with Lamantia’s goal being 100% coverage.

The children who receive care from the Courage Houses are children who have belonged to a "family in crisis" and are in dire need of professional therapy, guidance, nurturing, general support, mental health counseling, vocational/educational training and abusive behavior management therapy.
The EBCA Foundation directly helps the Courage Houses better reach their goals by providing the facilities with funding, access to unique programs and services, grant opportunities with corporate and individual philanthropists, marketing and educational tools and much more. Last year alone, Courage Houses served more than 100,000 abused and neglected children.

OK, so who IS Ed Block, anyway?

Block was the Head Athletic Trainer for the Baltimore Colts from 1954 to 1977. Under General George Patton, Block earned a Purple Heart in World War II. As a Colts trainer, he nurtured and trained some of the most legendary names in league history, when the Colts were a powerhouse in the 1950s and 1960s.
In addition to his accomplishments with the Colts, Ed worked for 13 years as a physical therapist for Kernan’s Hospital for Crippled Children, authored numerous papers and was a presenter at several national programs. And he was tireless and outspoken as a decrier of child abuse. He passed away in 1983.