Howard, Bellamy latest Piccolo Award winners for Bears
Bears running back Jordan Howard, this year's rookie winner of the Brian Piccolo Award, felt much less honored a year ago, when he wasn't drafted until the fifth round.
"I didn't go where I thought I was going to be going," said Howard, who nevertheless finished second in the NFL with 1,313 rushing yards. "That was kind of a disappointment."
But being overlooked also fueled Howard's drive toward a Pro Bowl season and a Bears rookie rushing record.
"It was definitely motivation because I thought I was a lot better than a lot of people who got selected before me," Howard said. "But that was out of my control."
Even after a brilliant rookie season in which he averaged 5.2 yards per carry - second only to LeSean McCoy's 5.5, among players with at least 150 carries - Howard is not satisfied.
"Ever since I've been playing this game, I always wanted to be the best," he said. "That's still my drive. I want to be the best player. I want to make the Hall of Fame. But I also want to win Super Bowls. I want to keep getting better so the team can get better as well."
Howard was joined Tuesday morning at Halas Hall by wide receiver and special teams standout Josh Bellamy, who was the veteran recipient of the Piccolo award.
The award has been given each year since 1970 to a Bears player who exemplifies the courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and sense of humor that Piccolo demonstrated as a running back before he died in 1970 at the age of 26 from embryonal cell carcinoma. In 1992, the award was expanded to honor one veteran and one rookie.
Bellamy, who had a career-best 282 receiving yards on 19 catches last season, is looking forward to working with new quarterback Mike Glennon.
"Mike's a cool guy, down to earth," Bellamy said. "We crack jokes all the time, but he's a worker, a workaholic. He wants guys that want to work, he wants everybody on the same page, and I like the leadership he brings."
The Bears' off-season program is barely under way with off-the-field work, but Bellamy is looking forward to suiting up with the new QB.
"He wants everybody on time," Bellamy said. "He's demanding everything, (which is) what a quarterback should do. He's showing leadership with the whole team, and he interacts with the players, with his guys."
When the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund was established, Piccolo's form of cancer was 100 percent fatal. Now the cure rate is over 95 percent.
More recently, those funds benefit breast cancer research at Rush Medical Center and have contributed over $8 million for research since 1991.
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