Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was presented with the Bart Starr Award at the annual Super Bowl Breakfast on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Fitzpatrick became the first Alabama alumnus to win the award named for the former Crimson Tide quarterback.

The Bart Starr Award has been presented annually by Athletes in Action since 1989 to “the NFL player who best exemplifies outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community.”

A two-time consensus All-American at Alabama and a three-time All-Pro in the NFL, Fitzpatrick had a trying season in 2023 because of injuries. He missed seven games, which Fitzpatrick said gave him “a lot of time to do a lot of reflecting.”

“I remember asking myself questions,” Fitzpatrick said in accepting the award, Teresa Varley reported for the Steelers’ official website. “I’m trying to be a better man. I’m trying to be a good man. And I remember asking myself the question: What is a good man? And I was dwelling on it for weeks. I pride myself on being a good man. But really what is that? I’m sitting in my prayer time, my quiet time, God started speaking to me, telling me a good man is a dead man. And at first I heard that and I was like, I don’t really know what that means. I want to live. But then he revealed it to me.

“One of the first requirements that Jesus gave his disciples was to take up his cross and to follow him. A lot of us think of the cross as gold crosses they wear on their neck or may have a tattoo. But the cross was an instrument of torture. It was an instrument of humiliation. It was an instrument for an evil cause, but what Jesus did when he got on the cross was turn it into a beautiful thing. The fact that he died on that cross and made the cross a beautiful thing is what God was saying to me. A good man is a dead man. A good man is a man who is willing to pick up his cross and follow Jesus. A good man is a man who’s willing to get up on that cross daily, sometimes multiple times throughout the day, pin his flesh to it and continue to follow Christ.”

READ TERESA VARLEY’S “FITZPATRICK PRESENTED WITH BART STARR AWARD”

Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin attended the event to present the award to Fitzpatrick.

“What a blessing and honor to be here,” Tomlin said, “particularly because of that young man sitting before me. I am never surprised by God’s greater plan. I’m just always ready to receive it. …

“It’s not my style to be at the Super Bowl, site to be quite honest with you, unless I’m working. I’m leaving here and going directly to the airport. This man, Minkah Fitzpatrick, is so deserving of this recognition, I would not miss this. I read the description of what this award embodies — a man of high character, values, integrity and leadership on and off the field. And it could have just said: Minkah Fitzpatrick.”

Starr was a Sidney Lanier High School and Alabama quarterback who had a Pro Football Hall of Fame career with Green Bay. Starr played for the Packers from 1956 through 1971 and was Green Bay’s coach from 1975 through 1983.

With coach Vince Lombardi, Starr led the Packers to five NFL championships, including victories in the first two Super Bowls. He won the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1966 and was the MVP of the first two Super Bowls. Starr joined Johnny Unitas and Sonny Jurgensen as the quarterbacks on the NFL’s All-1960s team and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977 in his first year of eligibility.

Starr died at age 85 on May 26, 2019, in Birmingham.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.