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WNBA Chicago Sky

Chicago Sky & Bank of America Honor Women of Inspiration

July 10, 2008 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Chicago Sky News Release


CHICAGO, July 10, 2008 - For the second consecutive season, the Chicago Sky and Bank of America have partnered to honor Chicago's Women of Inspiration. Tonight they will announce the program's third honoree, Firoza Mohideen, who will be presented with a game ball at center court by a Bank of America executive and Sky CEO Margaret Stender at halftime of the Sky game at UIC Pavilion. The second honoree, Maddi Elga Amill, was announced at the June 26 Sky game.

The Women of Inspiration program has two elements, the first of which is a recognition program to select and honor five to seven inspiring women at Sky home games throughout the 2008 season. Sky fans can nominate Chicago-area women who inspire them - by their courage, their determination, their forgiveness, the way they use a talent or skill, their generosity, their patience, or whatever it is that makes them inspiring. Fans can fill out a nomination form at chicagosky.net or on the concourse at Sky home games.

The second element is Bank of America's Women of Inspiration Night, which was held on June 26 at the Sky v. Phoenix Mercury game at UIC Pavilion. The evening began with a private pre-game reception for Chicago's women business leaders and the young women they mentor. A panel of women who are involved in Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games gave guests an inside look at the city's effort to win the games, including: Cassandra Francis, director of village development for Chicago 2016 Linda Mastandrea, vice president of sport for Chicago 2016 and a Paralympics gold medalist Jessica Fairchild, general counsel for Chicago 2016.

The Sky's own Sylvia Fowles, who will play for the US Women's Olympic Basketball Team in Beijing in August, also participated in the panel discussion. Bank of America's guests then watched the Sky take on the reigning WNBA Champion Mercury and their two Olympians, Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter.

"Bank of America is proud to support the Chicago Sky's Women of Inspiration program," said Bank of America Market Development Manager Julie Chavez. "We encourage Sky fans to take this opportunity to nominate outstanding women who help make Chicago one of the nation's truly great cities."

The third honoree selected by Bank of America is Firoza Mohideen, who was nominated a record-shattering 14 times, by different members of her Team in Training! Team in Training is the world's largest endurance sports training program, and it raises funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. What makes Firoza's participation particularly inspiring is that she has Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma herself. After being diagnosed in early 2007, Firoza went on to run her first half-marathon with Team In Training, only four

days after her last chemotherapy treatment. Her son also signed up for a Team In Training triathlon. She has never asked "Why me?" and it's because of that attitude that Firoza has been such an inspiration to others.

The second honoree selected by Bank of America is Maddi Elga Amill. Maddi's courage and strong will are what inspired Shalom Del Valle to nominate her for this honor. In the summer of 2007, Maddi was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy a week later. Maddi is still undergoing chemotherapy treatments, but if you didn't know that about her, you would never be able to tell. Maddi has owned her own business for over 30 years and is also the Midwest Regional Director for the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico here in Chicago. In her nomination, Shalom wrote, "Maddi inspires me every day to be a strong woman. She has the passion and drive to continue to be successful regardless of her predicament."

Mohideen and her family will be Bank of America's guests in the courtside Skyline Club at tonight's game, and she will be recognized by Bank of America officials and Sky CEO Margaret Stender at halftime. Amill attended the June 26 game with her family.

The Sky is one of seven independently-owned teams in the WNBA, the world's longest-running women's professional sports league. The Sky celebrated its inaugural season in 2006, and finished a successful sophomore season with a 14-20 record and guard Armintie Price named WNBA Rookie of the Year. The team chose 6'6" LSU star Sylvia Fowles with the number two pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.chicagosky.net.

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 59 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 6,100 retail banking offices, nearly 18,500 ATMs and award-winning online banking with nearly 25 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries and has relationships with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training® program is the world's largest endurance sports training program. Since 1988, more than 360,000 volunteer athletes have run or walked a marathon or half marathon; cycled a 100-mile century ride; or completed a triathlon to help to raise more than $850 million to support the LLS mission, to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. To learn more about Team in Training, please visit www.teamintraining.org/il/.

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