The most important thing you can do is give back.
That is what Sen. Bob Corker told a crowded room on Friday night. It wasn't a political rally he was addressing, but a room full of Erlanger employees and high-ranking community members.
A chorus of applause echoed down the halls at Erlanger's annual Dinner of Distinction as people gathered to celebrate the generous contributions that two surgeons, a former businessman and Corker himself have made to Erlanger and Chattanooga.
The Erlanger Health System Foundations honored Drs. Hugh Brown and Joseph B. Cofer, and awarded Corker with the first Gordon Street Distinguished Leadership Award.
This year's Distinguished Community Leadership Award was given posthumously to Gordon Street, who passed away last March. Street was known throughout Chattanooga as the Wheland Foundry heir, a strong community leader and generous philanthropist.
He was a longtime supporter of Erlanger, serving as the chairman of the Erlanger Baroness Foundation.
Erlanger Foundations President Julie Taylor said, "Since his untimely death last March, Mr. Street left a void that will always be felt by the Erlanger family."
In honor of Street's legacy, the Erlanger Foundations began the Gordon Street Distinguished Leadership Award.
"Gordon Street was one of my greatest heroes," Corker told the crowd. "I'm honored to be the first recipient."
Both Brown and Cofer are dedicated teachers in addition to surgeons.
Brown, a board-certified pediatric orthopedic surgeon and former associate professor with the UT Department of Orthopedic Surgeons, also gave credit to a teacher of sorts:
"If you listen to your wife she'll tell you what to do," he said as the room filled with laughter.
But he was serious when he spoke of all the people who helped him accomplish what had brought him to the podium.
"This recognition does not belong to me," he said. "It belongs to the Children's Hospital and the nurses and doctors who run that place."
Cofer, a long-serving general surgeon and the surgery residency program director for the Department of Surgery at the UTC College of Medicine, also thanked the crowd and Erlanger.
"Surgery is a hallowed privilege," he said. "... I'm honored to be a part of this hospital, and none of us have gotten here without help."
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson atkendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.