ALL IN THE FAMILY

For the Host Committee’s Angie Bulaich, football is synonymous with her last name

By David Lee

Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 11:11am

FORT WORTH — Super Bowl XLV will come through North Texas in 2011 and leave a lasting impact on the region. Angie Bulaich, the Host Committee’s newly appointed Community Outreach Manager, aims to maximize opportunities the game will provide the area.

Bulaich, who oversees the Host Committee’s Fort Worth Office, is right at home when promoting the pigskin. In fact, Bulaich, a TCU graduate, has some impressive football family ties. Her father-in-law is Norm Bulaich—a former star running back at TCU who played in the NFL during the 1970s.

Bulaich was a first-round draft pick of the Baltimore Colts in 1970 and actually was part of the Colts’ Super Bowl V championship team. He was voted to the 1971 Pro Bowl.

“He’s a great man,” Bulaich says of her father-in-law. “He’s always been active in the community. With this football community that I’m now into, I’m running into it all the time. I love telling him all the stories that people tell me.”

Like her father-in-law, Bulaich is active in promoting and improving the community, which brought her to the Host Committee through career ties with Host Committee President & CEO Bill Lively.

While many of the programs Bulaich is heading up are in the early stages, her excitement and vision are hard to miss.

“The Fort Worth office will be the hub for our community outreach initiatives,” she says. “Everything will emanate from here, from local charity needs to assisting the NFL’s own community outreach department. The NFL has many wonderful community programs, including Play 60 and environmental initiatives. They’ll need a local person to help facilitate, and that’s where I’ll come in.”

Helping the NFL facilitate its national outreach programs will be a priority once Super Bowl XLV draws closer, but in the meantime, Bulaich is trying to formulate the Host Committee’s own community outreach programs.

One of those programs that will be announced next month is an ambitious youth education program. The initiative will have a profound effect on thousands of area youth and will help improve the community through various events and efforts.

“Elementary-aged students will take on projects across the region via school districts, churches, after-school programs, etc.,” she says. “This program is going to be the Host Committee’s legacy piece. I think when this initiative is formally announced everyone is going to be very inspired.”

While Bulaich is excited about all this, she’s especially pleased to have the opportunity to represent her hometown.

“We’ve worked very hard to plan our community outreach strategies,” she says. “I’m very thankful that Fort Worth will play such a key role in all this. When you consider that Taste of the NFL (which benefits the local food banks) will enjoy its 20th anniversary when it’s held at the Fort Worth Convention Center come Super Bowl week, it’s clear that this city is going to play a pivotal role in the ultimate success of this Super Bowl. As a Fort Worth-native, who loves this city dearly, that makes me very proud.”