COVINGTON — Two-time Olympic gold-medalist Dot Richardson helped award the Metropolitan Club's version of gold to Tristate civic champion Patricia Corbett Tuesday night.

        Members of the Metropolitan Club's Board of Governors created the Metropolitan Award in 1995 to recognize people who have displayed “exponential effort toward improving the lives of citizens” as well as helping to unify civic and business organizations, said board member Lauren Abel.

        “This is very much like the Olympics — it's about the best of the best, and Mrs. Corbett is just that,” said Ms. Richardson in an interview before the presentation.

        The guest speaker every year at the dinner is an Olympian. All proceeds from the event go to the U.S. Olympic Committee. Tuesday's dinner raised $104,000 for the committee.

        Mrs. Corbett, known for her champion-level support of the arts throughout the Tristate, claims, though, that she never wanted to be any kind of a leader.

        “It just worked out that way. But I'm happy to take on a leadership role when it's expected of me. It's an opportunity to show the leadership qualities that everyone has and to show that others can do just as I have,” Mrs. Corbett said during an interview Tuesday.

        In addition to once running and now chairing the board of the Corbett Foundation, founded in 1955, she is known as a strong supporter of the arts in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati..

        Ms. Richardson, now an orthopedic surgeon living in Florida, presented the keynote address in Mrs. Corbett's honor, but holds international fame herself in athletics.

        She scored the game-winning home run for her U.S. softball team in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga.

        Dr. Richardson, who completed medical school at the University of Louisville, said sports are especially important for women because of the opportunities they offer academically. “I've been able to watch and experience how scholarships for women athletes have evolved. They really open doors,” she said.

        She also said she's seen a new recognition of women athletes. “I've heard people call 1996 the Olympics for women because of all the women's team sports — softball, gymnastics, soccer, synchronized swimming. But for me, it was a spark” that has resulted in national professional sports organizations, such as the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and women's soccer, softball, and even football leagues, she said.

        Tuesday's awards dinner, the Metropolitan Club's seventh annual, served a sold-out crowd of 245. But then, it's sold out every year since its inception. Over those years, between the black-tie dinners and silent auctions, the organization has contributed more than $540,000 to the U.S. Olympic Committee, Ms. Abel said.

        Past award recipients include Otto M. Budig Jr., Ed and Carole Rigaud, William P. Butler, Joseph H. Head Jr., Joseph P. Hayden and Oliver Waddell.

Police under scrutiny
Civil rights procedures
Experts reviewing the case
The federal investigation
Taste vendors say they're cookin'
Gleevec attacks leukemia protein
Mystery still surrounds remains of 'Baby Jesse'
West Chester's boom strains roads, services
CROWLEY: Fiscal court a concern for GOP
RADEL: Legion waits
2 stations pull shark ads off air
A sense of area's history secure
Bengals' settlement share drops
Brinkman weapons bill not expected to advance
Budget bill would shield lawmakers
Cemetery care will be goal of new panel
Charge reduced in Mason assault case
First, fidelity pledge; then death
Fort Thomas delays plan vote
Insurance providers might not cover drug
Kenton Co. GOP lauds 2 for party contribution
Lakota pupils up 74% in decade
Lebanon council goes ahead with Main Street project
MacLaine teaches, amuses audience with her stories
Mayoral candidate files
Olympian helps with tribute
Proposed budget bill would shield lawmakers, staffs
Shortcut to be short-lived
Some churches won't join prayer at Taste
Students facing list of charges
Trip to raise funds, hope
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report