Strength and determination in the public eye are the common denominators of this year's honoree and guest speaker at the 10th annual Awards & Recognition Breakfast on Aug. 20 to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming.

Wyoming native Susan Roberts Thomas, wife of the late Sen. Craig Thomas, is the honoree, joining past recipients Newell Sargent, Tom Stroock, John Wold, Mick McMurry, Mike Sullivan, Susie McMurry, Gail Zimmerman, George Bryce and John Martin.

NFL legend and Hall of Famer Gale Sayers is the featured speaker.

As an educator, Thomas has spent nearly four decades advocating for the rights of children with special needs.

She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Colorado and came back to Wyoming to teach as one of the first educators specializing in those with learning disabilities.

She taught at the elementary level for nine years, at Kelly Walsh High School, and then at Washington Lee High School in Arlington, Va. She retired this spring after 18 years.

Outside of the classroom, Thomas has been a leading advocate in the fight against breast cancer in Wyoming and throughout the nation, starting the Wyoming Race for the Cure in 1994.

She has established the Craig and Susan Thomas Foundation in memory of her late husband. It will work with Wyoming's people, organizations and communities to provide opportunities and help "at risk" children achieve their full potential.

Kansas-born Gale Sayers was a legend at the University of Kansas, was the NFL's Rookie of the Year in 1965 and led the NFL in scoring that same year.

After just three seasons in the National Football League, he was voted to the first team as halfback of the NFL's First 50 Years All Star Team. In 1970, Sayers was named the NFL's most courageous player by the Pro Football Writers of America to acknowledge his dedicated comeback from career-threatening knee surgery. Seven years later, Sayers became the youngest player in NFL history to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Sayers currently serves as president of Sayers Computer Source, a company he founded with his wife in 1984. He holds a bachelor of science degree in physical education and a master's of science degree in educational administration from the University of Kansas.