FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Three-Time Super Bowl Champion Comes Back to SCSU to Get Degree.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Former Southern Connecticut State University football alum Joe Andruzzi received his undergraduate degree in special education, 23 years after completing his playing career with the Owls. The two-time All-American played for head coach Rich Cavanaugh from 1993 through the 1996 season before a 10-year in the National Football League that featured three Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots.
The anchor of the Owls' offensive line, Andruzzi was named an All-American by the American Football Coaches Association as a junior and senior. Andruzzi was also twice selected to the All-ECAC squad and captured All-New England laurels as a sophomore, junior and senior. He served as team captain as a senior.
Following his playing days at SCSU, Andruzzi spent 10 years in the NFL, first signing as an undrafted free agent with the Green Bay Packers before joining the New England Patriots, with whom he won three Super Bown titles before becoming a member of the Cleveland Browns.
Andruzzi currently serves as the CEO of the Joe Andruzzi Foundation, an organization that is leading the fight to tackle cancer by funding cancer research; assisting cancer institutes in achieving the highest level of patient care possible and by providing financial assistance to cancer patients and their caregivers to help ease the burden treatment places on their lives. Andruzzi was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Burkitt's lymphoma in 2007 before founding the Joe Andruzzi Foundation in 2008.
Inducted into the Southern Connecticut State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009, Andruzzi was also named the Walter Camp Man of the Year in 2015. He was previously honored with the the Ed Block Courage Award in 2002 and the first Ron Burton Community Service Award in 2003.
-Story provided by Southern Connecticut athletic communications staff-
Joe Andruzzi Foundation Mission Statement
The Joe Andruzzi Foundation (JAF) is a registered 501(C)(3) non-profit organization committed to providing help, hope, and a reason to smile, for New England cancer patients and their families by contributing financial support when it is needed most.
Because patients and families must often devote all of their energy and resources towards battling the disease, the Foundation helps alleviate financial and emotional stress by providing grants to assist with rent/mortgage payments, utilities, and other household expenses. This relief allows the Foundation's grant recipients to focus on their fight against cancer and not on the financial distress that comes with it.
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