This year’s Pillars of America speaker series at Centennial Hall will feature an NFL Hall of Famer, a U.S. Navy SEAL officer and a paraplegic author and innovator.
Brandon Stone, W. Mitchell and Larry Csonka will speak April 19, April 26 and May 3, respectively, at Glacier Valley Rotary Club’s large annual fundraising luncheon. Doors open at 11:15 a.m.; a catered lunch is served at 11:30.
Tickets are available at Hearthside Books for $35 each.
Csonka, a two-time NFL Super Bowl Champion and co-host of the TV show “North to Alaska,” has been busy since retiring from the NFL after the 1979 season. Csonka worked as a spokesman and TV show host throughout the ’80s and ’90s and hosted “North to Alaska” on the NBC Sports channel.
After residing several years in Anchorage, Csonka and his longtime partner, Audrey Bradshaw, are new residents of Wasilla.
Stone is a former resident of Juneau, former U.S. Navy SEAL, lawyer and Tillman Foundation Scholar. Stone lost his left leg in an assault on a Taliban stronghold in 2011.
He earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with a Combat “V” device while serving multiple tours of duty in Iraq, Africa and Afghanistan.
Mitchell, a burn victim survivor and paraplegic, is the author of “The Man Who Would Not be Defeated,” which chronicles his harrowing journey of recovery after surviving both a motorcycle accident and a plane crash.
Mitchell suffered burns on two-thirds of his body in the motorcycle accident and was rendered paralyzed by the plane crash four years later, and today inspires international audiences with his positive nature and quick wit.
Larry Csonka
W. Mitchell
