Special guest Muhammad Ali at Larry Fitzgerald's "Celebrity Server" event

Larry Fitzgerald, Muhammad Ali and Roger Drake

Throughout 2011, some of the biggest names in sports partnered with Morton’s to share their stories, serve our guests and most importantly, support worthwhile charities.

Some pretty special servers traded in their uniforms for aprons at Morton’s locations across the country to help raise funds for their preferred charities, and our “Celebrity Servers at Morton’s” series saw another banner year…bringing in an astounding $1, 585, 000!  This year’s total, combined with the proceeds from 2010, equals almost $3 million! 

From Baltimore to Las Vegas, guests were able to rub elbows with some of the best in the business and saw their favorite athletes offering passed hors d’oeuvres, cracked pepper on their salads and refills on their wine.  

Jonathan Vilma and New Orleans Saints Teammates at Morton's
Jonathan Vilma and his New Orleans Saints Teammates

Some highlights included Larry Fitzgerald’s event at Morton’s in Scottsdale, raising $220,000 for the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund and the First Down Fund; Ryan Howard’s event at Morton’s in Philadelphia, raising $200,000 for Ryan Howard Family Foundation and the Jonathan Vilma event at Morton’s in New Orleans, when the whole Saints team came together to help raise $196,000 for the Jonathan Vilma Foundation.  You can visit our website to see the whole line-up of “Celebrity Servers” from 2011 or browse our blog for recaps from these incredible events.

For the 3rd year running, Morton’s also partnered with ESPN to broadcast live ‘Lunch with a Legend’ and ‘Dinner with a Legend’ events from our private dining rooms.  Our guests had front-row seats and exclusive access to some legendary sports figures, including Dodger great Steve Garvey and super agent Leigh Steinberg in our LA-area restaurants, Legendary Temple basketball coach John Chaney in Philadelphia, former NHL star Jeremy Roenick in Chicago, and Browns top running back Peyton Hillis in Cleveland.  Guests also got to reminisce with Bobby Dandridge and Kevin Grevey of the 1978 NBA Champion Washington Bullets, who won the dramatic Game 7 with seconds to play against the Seattle Supersonics.

As you can see, 2011 was a very exciting year for Morton’s.  Sports celebrities came off of the field and on our turf to raise money for charity and provide our guests once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.  We raise a glass to the athletes for donating their time and their passion to help those less fortunate and for spending time with our guests.  And we raise a glass to all our guests who supported these events, their causes and their local Morton’s.

Here’s to an equally, if not more, successful 2012 for everyone…both on, and off, the field!

Roger Drake
Sr. V.P. of Marketing and Communications
Morton’s The Steakhouse