For more information contact: Katrina McCormack
(561) 297-3163

Team Dentist Awards Scholarship in Honor of His Father

BOCA RATON, FL--- A father’s gift to his son is the love of sport, especially the sport of football. His hope is that his son will be well educated and will have good fortune and the opportunity to give back to society. Dr. Richard Staller and his older brother, Nat, had such a father, and it is their wish to honor the recently deceased Martin Staller by offering an annual scholarship in his name to support the quarterback position at FAU. On Thursday, they presented FAU with a check for $12,500.

“We really appreciate Richard’s generosity. He has truly been one of our most faithful supporters over the years, so it is only fitting that he is one of the leaders in developing our new scholarship program for student athletes. We hope others will follow his tremendous example,” said FAU Athletics Director Craig Angelos.

Richard Staller became involved with FAU athletics in 2000 as the fledging Owl football program took to the field for the first time. As each player ran onto the field he was adorned with helmet, pads, shoes, uniform and, thanks to Dr. Staller, a mouth guard. Since that time, Staller and his staff have supplied to the university individually-fitted protective mouth guards. To date, he and his staff have fitted more than 2000 guards in an effort to prevent facial damage as well as limit the risk of concussion.

Dr. Staller has attended every game including the squad’s 17 road games. Like the touch of an athlete’s hand that rubs the team’s symbolic symbol before each game, Staller became accustomed to talking to his father for a pre-game talk and a post-game review. With each report the first two seasons came the encouraging words from Martin, “The team is young, give them time, you have to believe.”

Richard Staller believes and offers the scholarship to a program led by head coach Howard Schnellenberger, who often signs letters with “To Believe is to Be Strong”. The first recipient of the Martin Staller scholarship, Jared Allen, is a perfect example of an individual who also believes. He was one of just six players from outside of the state of Florida to agree to come to FAU on vision and promise. Allen believed and he often leads the team’s pre-game locker room chant of “Do You Believe?”

Martin Staller passed in May of 2003, just months before the team of believers stormed onto the field in Murfreesboro, TN, to notch the program’s first Division I-A victory and set the course for this season’s move to the Sun Belt Conference and the opportunity to play at the highest level. The Owls finished the season 11-3 ranked no. 4 nationally and brought the NCAA national semifinal game to South Florida where Doris Staller, Martin’s wife and Nat and Richard’s mother, could carry the torch and follow her favorite player, Jared Allen and the quarterback core, just like she had focused on her son Richard when he was guiding his team under center as a youth.

“Education was important to my father and he loved sports. He instilled this into both my brother and I, making us the men we are today. I have always followed sports, especially professional sports, but have found a second family at FAU. My involvement with the Owls has grown from one of loving to watch the sport to truly enjoying watching the young men and women become adults through all the experiences that FAU athletics offers,” said Richard Staller.

Richard Staller’s Bio
As team dentists, Drs. Richard and Zarina Staller remain integral to the total health of the FAU student-athlete. The Stallers, FAU’s 48th Founder, and their staff have provided their services in the fabrication of custom mouth guards for the prevention of facial injuries. The mouth guards also reduce the possibility of concussions for the men’s and women’s basketball, softball and football teams. Dr. Richard Staller serves as the president of the Owl Club and was the organizer of the first FAU auction dedicated to raising scholarship dollars. He annually sponsors the football team’s schedule cards and regularly sells game tickets and promotes each of the university’s 17 sports while attending the games or while treating patients at his office.

For a program racing towards competing on a national level, Staller dons a hat that reads “OwlDR” and drives a car with a similar license plate.

“A special thanks to the Staller family for their most generous gift,” said Coach Schnellenberger. “Dr. Staller has been a founding father of our football program both financially and with his personal support. It is his hope that this leadership gift will energize many other people to support his cause.”

For more information on how to follow Dr. Staller’s lead by naming a scholarship, please contact Andy Russo in the FAU Athletics Department at 561-297-0131.