Washington — At a meeting today on Capitol Hill, Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) personally urged President-elect Barack Obama to recruit outgoing Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy to help promote responsible fatherhood nationwide.

“I recommended to President-elect Obama today that he enlist Coach Tony Dungy as a leader on an issue all three of us care deeply about—promoting responsible fatherhood,” Bayh said. “He enthusiastically agreed, saying, ‘I love that guy.’  So do all Hoosiers.”

Dungy, who retired from coaching Monday after seven seasons as the Indianapolis Colts’ head coach, led the team to a Super Bowl victory in 2006. Off the field, he worked tirelessly on behalf of children and families in the Indianapolis community, raising money for local children’s hospitals, building youth scholarship funds, counseling teens through church outreach programs, and urging local residents to become adoptive parents or foster families.

“Tony Dungy won a Super Bowl and took our Colts to the playoffs for seven straight years, but the greatest measure of this man is what he has done off the field,” Bayh said.  “He is a hero to all of us who care about fostering responsible fatherhood. He is a hero to advocates and foster families trying to give children loving homes through adoption. He is a hero to scores of young Hoosiers in Indianapolis for whom he has played a personal role in their lives.”

Next month, Senator Bayh will introduce the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009 to remove barriers for fathers trying to reconnect and become more involved in the lives of their children. Bayh cosponsored the legislation last Congress with Obama, who has pledged to sign the bill into law as President.

The bill would remove some of the government penalties on married families, crack down on non-custodial parents avoiding child support payments, ensure that support payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies, and fund adult literacy initiatives and job training programs to help fathers trying to do right by their children.

Bayh said Dungy is a role model for young people across America. “Tony is a passionate advocate and a role model for young people. His remarkable accomplishments on the football field are likely to be surpassed by the good works he will do off it.”

###