Purdue's Drew Brees was honored with the Dungy-Thompson Humanitarian Award, the conference announced Wednesday. The award recognizes Big Ten football players that have achieved success in humanitarianism after their college careers have ended.

A two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honoree, the 2000 Maxwell Award recipient and 2001 Big Ten Medal of Honor winner, Brees founded the Brees Dream Foundation in 2003. The organization has committed and/or contributed more than $17 million to charitable causes and academic institutions in the New Orleans, San Diego and West Lafayette communities. A co-chair of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition since 2010, Brees was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2006 and the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 2010. He became one of the many faces of the New Orleans community following the Hurricane Katrina tragedy by establishing numerous charitable foundations to help the area in its recovery. Brees, whose name appears on the Big Ten's Griese-Brees Quarterback of the Year trophy, guided the Boilermakers to the Big Ten Championship in 2000 and their first Rose Bowl berth since 1967. Drafted in 2001, he played five seasons with San Diego before moving to New Orleans in 2006, winning the Super Bowl and being named the game's MVP in 2009.

The Dungy-Thompson Humanitarian Award is named for Minnesota's Tony Dungy and Indiana's Anthony Thompson. For more information on these awards, including biographical information on the namesakes, visit www.bigten.org.