3 former public relations directors selected to receive Awards of Excellence

Honorees will be recognized June 25-26 in Canton; 4 other groups to name Award recipients for 2025 class

Three individuals who worked to promote the sport of professional football at the league and team levels for well over 100 combined seasons have been chosen as Awards of Excellence winners for 2025 in the Public Relations Directors category.

Being honored in the Awards of Excellence program’s fourth class are Pete Abitante, Jason Jenkins and Bill Keenist. Their selection brings to 14 the number of public relations personnel who have been recognized.

A cocktail dinner and awards luncheon to celebrate the careers of Abitante, Jenkins, Keenist and other honorees to be named later in other categories will take place in Canton next June 25-26.

Abitante extended a college summer internship in the late 1970s into a 46-year career with the National Football League, first in its Communications Department (1978-2006), where he learned from NFL PR icons Don Weiss, Jim Heffernan and Joe Browne, then as Special Assistant to Commissioner Roger Goodell (2006-2017). In 2017, he took on a “special projects” role, and among other initiatives led the NFL’s 100th Season celebration in 2019 that included the selection of the NFL 100 All-Time Team.
 
The last NFL employee to work with Commissioner PETE ROZELLE, Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE and Commissioner Goodell, Abitante’s career highlights include 46 Super Bowls (XIII through LVIII), the growth of the game internationally and five USO tours with players to visit American servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
Abitante served as the communications point person for international media requests from 1986 to 2005 as the sport spread overseas with American Bowl preseason games and the establishment of NFL Europe. His travels to promote the game included more than 20 trips to Japan, numerous visits to Berlin shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and 40 games in eight countries over four continents.

Described as the “heart and soul” of the Dolphins’ organization during his 14-year career in Miami, Jenkins died unexpectedly in August 2022, only a few hours before a preseason game scheduled against the Philadelphia Eagles. He was 47 years old.

Jenkins’ rise in the organization and impact on it had been profound. He was named the Dolphins’ senior vice president of communications and community affairs in 2015, directing more than 50 people and overseeing the team’s vast community relations and charitable efforts. He championed the Dolphins Football UNITES program, a team and community collaboration in South Florida focused on “improving relationships, fostering understanding and experiencing culture in a way that will ignite positive change.”

Prior to joining the Dolphins, Jenkins worked seven years with the San Francisco 49ers. He is the first African American honored in the Awards of Excellence program in the Public Relations Directors category.

Keenist joined the Detroit Lions in May 1985 and stayed with the organization and the William Clay Ford family until retiring in 2021. He worked in several positions in the Lions’ front office: assistant public relations director; PR director; director of marketing, broadcasting and communications; vice president for administration and communications; and senior vice president for communications, a position he held for nearly two decades.

While the Lions never reached the NFL’s biggest stage, Keenist worked 29 Super Bowls, including five as “co-captain” of the event’s public relations team. He cited among other career highlights working with future Hall of Famers BARRY SANDERS, CALVIN JOHNSON and CHARLIE SANDERS.

Keenist’s career included short stints with the Washington Redskins (1981-83), which produced a Super Bowl victory and ring, and with the Pittsburgh Maulers (1983-84) in the original United States Football League. When the Maulers ceased operations, Edward DeBartolo’s family hired Keenist as sports public relations director for the Civic Arena, where he worked primarily with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
 

About the Awards of Excellence

The Pro Football Hall of Fame established the Awards of Excellence in 2022 to recognize significant contributors to the game in “behind-the-scenes” roles. In addition to public relations personnel, the program honors career Assistant Coaches plus Athletic Trainers, Equipment Managers and Film/Video Directors. These groups will make and announce their selections for the Class of 2025 at various times over the next few months.

The five groups presenting the Awards of Excellence created their own selection committees and set their own criteria for choosing new members. The Hall of Fame does not participate in any nominating or voting. 

Also at next year’s awards luncheon, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will honor the winner of its annual photo contest. Photographs taken during the 2024 National Football League season in the “Action” and “Feature” categories and entered in the contest are eligible for awards. A panel of professional photographers will judge the entries and pick first-, second- and third-place finishers in each category. 

The Photograph of the Year — chosen from the first-place winners in the Action and Feature categories — will be deemed winner of the 57th annual Dave Boss Award of Excellence. That photographer will be invited to Canton for the June 25-26 program, and his/her image will be placed on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.