PIRANHAS OWNER AND PRESIDENT MARCIE LAUMANN TO BE HONORED BY THE NORFOLK SPORTS CLUB
PIRANHAS OWNER AND PRESIDENT MARCIE LAUMANN TO BE HONORED BY THE NORFOLK SPORTS CLUB
Virginia Beach, Virginia – The Norfolk Sports Club will honor Piranhas President and Owner Marcie Laumann on September 27 by awarding her the Frank Margiotta Unsung Hero Award. This honor is given to an individual who best exemplifies dedicated service and unselfish devotion to a community.
The award was named the Frank Margiotta Award in 2008 after the founding father of the Norfolk Sports Club. The first meeting of the Club was held in his office in 1944 with four people present that included Margiotta, who at age 99, is the only surviving member. 
Ms. Laumann is the third recipient of the Frank Margiotta Unsung Hero Award in the Club’s history. Norfolk Academy cross country and track coach Ken Lampert won the award in 2007 and Marie Boos of the Norfolk Admirals was named in 2008. The award was not given in 2009.
Ms. Laumann developed a passion for the sport of soccer as a teenager and played forward at Green Run High School and as goalkeeper for Old Dominion University’s club side in the years before the sport was played by women at the University at the NCAA level. She continued to play for local women’s teams until 1996. Ms. Laumann also played Futsal and was a member of the National Championship Women’s Open Team in 1988.
She founded the Hampton Roads piranhas in 1995 and has served as President of the franchise ever since. The Piranhas are the oldest active W-League franchise in the United Soccer Leagues (USL), entering their 17th season in 2011.
Ms. Laumann is one of the USL’s most respected owners. In 2007 and in 2001, she was named the United Soccer League’s W-League Executive of the Year and in 2004 was inducted into the United Soccer League’s Hall of Fame. In 2003, the Piranhas were named the United Soccer League’s W-League Organization of the Year and in 2000, Ms. Laumann was honored with the Moylan Courage Award. She has served on the League’s Marketing Committee and for seven years, served on the USL W-League Executive Committee. And in April of 2008, Ms. Laumann was appointed by the USL as the first Senior Advisor to the W-League.
Ms. Laumann is a strong community leader, having donated a great deal of time to local charities and local events. She serves on the Virginia Power Soccer (soccer for power wheelchair users) board of directors, and spear headed the USL Hurricane Katrina Relief charity auction in 2005. She has organized and promoted fund raising events in Hampton Roads to benefit local groups including the Virginia Beach SPCA, the Mary Kay Ash Foundation, the American Red Cross, the Food Bank of South Hampton Roads, and numerous youth teams and public schools throughout the area. Marcie and her husband Doc live in Chesapeake Virginia.
Ms. Laumann will receive the award at the Club luncheon at the Holiday Inn-Virginia Beach-Norfolk Hotel and Conference Center, (formerly the Holiday Inn Executive Center) at 5655 Greenwich Road, Virginia Beach on September 27. Lunch will be served from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Cost of the luncheon is $15 for members and $17 for guests. Tickets are available through the Club’s Executive Administrator Betty Dail at 757-497-9483 or at betty@norfolksportsclub.hrcoxmail.com.
For more information about the 2011 Hampton Roads Piranhas, please call 757-226-9040 or visit www.hrpiranhas.com.
