Rolf Benirschke

Rolf Benirschke had an illustrious 10-year career in the NFL as the placekicker for the San Diego Chargers before retiring as the third most accurate placekicker in NFL history. He received numerous awards during his football career, including NFL Man of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, NFL Player Association Hero of the Year, and the NFL's most prestigious award, the Byron "Whizzer" White award. In 1997, Mr. Benirschke was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame.

Mr. Benirschke is an accomplished author, television personality, and inspirational speaker. He routinely speaks for major corporations and at health related events, and is the national spokesman for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. He is also involved in philanthropic programs benefiting Scripps Hospital, Sharp Healthcare, the Zoological Society of San Diego, United Way, the San Diego Chargers Annual Blood Drive, and is the chairman of the Rolf Benirschke Legacy Foundation. 

In his second season with the Chargers, Mr. Benirschke was stricken with a life-threatening disease that became the impetus for him to create Great Comebacks, a patient advocacy program sponsored by ConvaTec.  Great Comebacks is now celebrating 28 years of success and provides information, support, and inspiration to ostomy patients in countries around the world who live with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer or other diseases that can lead to ostomy surgery.

Great Comebacks and Mr. Benirschke's visionary work as a patient advocate led him to co-found Legacy Health Strategies, an industry leader in developing patient support, disease awareness, and treatment compliance initiatives for medical device and pharmaceutical companies.  Mr. Benirschke's leadership guides Legacy Health Strategies in designing and developing innovative programs for NuVasive, ResMed, ConvaTec, Life Technologies and California's Right Care Health Initiative.