NASHVILLE – Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk will be recognized as the 2019 Tennessean of the Year at the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame banquet on Saturday night in downtown Nashville.

The award "honors an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to our society through sports or other methods, demonstrating strong character and high profile leadership.,"

"When it was announced, I was so pleasantly surprised," Strunk said. "I feel so honored to have this award, and I'm just very thankful that the folks that award it thought I should get it. ... I was totally blown away and very excited and very humbled and honored."

The Tennessean of the Year award was first awarded by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. The award is not bestowed each year; only when people are deemed worthy.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell praised Amy Adams Strunk for her role in bringing the 2019 NFL Draft to the city. On the same day Goodell made his comments, Strunk donated $100,000 to a pair of Nashville non-profits charged with fighting hunger in the community at the NFL's Huddle Against Hunger event at Nissan Stadium.

This year's draft easily shattered records for attendance, as over 600,000 fans fill the streets of Nashville for the three-day event. The previous record came in 2017, when 250,000 attended in Philadelphia

"To Amy, thank you," Goodell said while in Nashville, "because we wouldn't be here without you. Your leadership with the Titans, but also the respect you have in the NFL is something that brought us to Nashville as well as this great city. So thank you."

The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame is located inside Bridgestone Arena and is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 p.m. - 5 p.m. The 2019 TSHF dinner is scheduled for Saturday at the Omni Hotel in downtown Nashville.

Previous winners of the Tennessean of the Year award:

2018: Nashville Predators
2016: Peyton Manning
2014: Todd Helton
2013: James Franklin
2012: Pat Summitt
2011: Kenny Chesney, Ryland Hoskins.
2007: Hank Williams, Jr.
2006: James A. "Jim" Haslam II
2005: Tennessee Olympians.
2004: Avron Fogelman
2003: Gaylord Entertainment Company
2002: 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Major General Richard A. Cody. Commanding.
2001: Tennessee Olympians
2000: Doug Dickey
1999: Phillip Fulmer
1998: Peyton Manning
1997: Phillip Bredesen
1996: Don Sundquist
1995: Vince Gill
1994: Albert Gore, Jr.
1993: Cybil Shepard
1992: John Seigenthaler
1991: Johnny Majors
1990: Ned Ray McWherter
1989: Roy Acuff
1988: Pat Summitt
1987: Stanley Cohen
1986: Lamar Alexander
1985: Tennessee Olympians
1984: Conway Twitty
1983: Jake F. Butcher
1982: Barbara Mandrell