LG Electronics Invests In Youth And Future Student Athletes As Part Of 2014 NCAA® March Madness® Initiatives

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., March 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- LG Electronics USA, an official NCAA Corporate Partner, will be back at the Men's Final Four (April 5-7 in North Texas) to host its annual fan-favorite LG Coaches Cook-Off™ competition. This year's participants include Baylor University head coach Scott Drew and Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy, who will be helping North Texas elementary school coaches compete for a grant for their school to promote fitness.

Giving back to the local community, LG collaborated with Project Fit America, an organization dedicated to helping schools create opportunities for children and young adults to be active, fit and healthy through a unique physical education grant program. Project Fit America issued an open call to North Texas schools to apply to participate in the cooking competition for a chance to receive support from LG for new indoor and outdoor physical fitness facilities and a curriculum to help physical education teachers incorporate them in their lessons.

"LG's March Madness focus this year is 'Do Game Day Right.' To us, that has many meanings, whether it's investing in future student-athletes or delivering the ultimate game day experience through our products," said William Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics USA. "We wanted to ensure our presence at the Final Four lasts beyond just a few days, so helping local student athletes have access to fitness facilities and education for years to come is a natural fit."

Numerous schools made inquiries to apply prior to the closing date. By March 19, Project Fit America will identify the four finalists from the submissions and invite their coaches to participate in LG's signature event – the LG Coaches Cook-Off on April 5 – which will be a key part of LG's on-site activities at this year's Men's Final Four. While the winning coach's school will receive the LG Project Fit grant, each finalist school will receive a variety of LG products, including ENERGY STAR certified computer monitors, HDTVs and refrigerators.

"At Project Fit America, we're passionate about the positive impact physical fitness can have in fostering healthy living and building important life skills," said Stacey Cook, executive director at Project Fit America. "LG shares our passion, and we're honored to work with them to help North Texas students have access to the proper fitness facilities to build the skills needed for a bright future."

As with previous LG Coaches Cook-Off competitions, distinguished NCAA coaches have agreed to put their culinary skills to the test for a good cause. With both Drew and Kennedy currently coaching at Texas schools, their competitive drive will be at an ultra-high level.

Each team will have 30 minutes to cook a selection of tasty game day treats using a full suite of high-performance appliances in the LG Kitchen at the Tip-Off Tailgate presented by Infiniti at AT&T Stadium. LG appliances at each team's disposal include:

• LG's French-Door refrigerator with its innovative Door-in-Door™ feature, which allows easy access to commonly used items without opening the main refrigerator door, and its ENERGY STAR® certification meaning it helps save energy and money.
• LG's single-oven electric range with quicker preheating using an infrared heating element and LG's EasyClean™ technology, which allows cleaning in as little as 20 minutes using only water*.
• LG's high-performance five-burner, 30-inch radiant cooktop as well as an LG microwave with convection technology for optimal cooking performance.
• LG's ENERGY STAR® certified Steam Dishwasher with EasyRack™ for simple loading and TrueStream^™ technology, which features cleaning performance that virtually eliminates the need to prewash dishes.

Fans attending the Tip-Off Tailgate will be able to watch the coaches' progress during the culinary showdown on LG's 55-inch class (54.6-inches measured diagonally) LED Smart TVs in high-definition picture quality as the contestants scramble to combine ingredients.

For more information on LG's events at the NCAA Final Four, please visit http://www.lg.com/ncaa/ or lglockerroom.com.

*Heavy build-up may require additional manual effort or use of the full self-clean feature.

"Do Game Day Right" is a trademark of LG Electronics, Inc.
LG Coaches Cook-Off is a registered trademark of LG Electronics, Inc.
NCAA, Final Four and March Madness are trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
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About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 450,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit www.ncaa.org and www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.  The NCAA is proud to have the following elite companies as official Corporate Champions—AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola—and the following elite companies as official Corporate Partners—Allstate, Buffalo Wild Wings, Buick, Burger King, Enterprise, Infiniti, LG Electronics USA, Lowe's, Nabisco, Northwestern Mutual, Reese's (Hershey's), Unilever and UPS.

About Project Fit America
Project Fit America (PFA) is a national non-profit public charity dedicated to getting kids fit. PFA donates fully funded cardiovascular health and lifetime fitness education programs to schools, grades K-12. Formed in 1990 as a (501) (c) (3) corporation, PFA donates 75 cents of each dollar received to schools for the sole purpose of developing exemplary model schools for cardiovascular health and fitness. The vast majority of our sponsors have been hospitals and healthcare organizations.  Since our founding sponsorship drive we have generated over $11 million.  This has resulted in the development of exemplary programs for fitness in education in over 870 schools in 300 cities and 42 states.

About LG Electronics USA
A proud Corporate Partner of the NCAA, LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $52 billion global force and technology leader in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a range of stylish and innovative home entertainment products, mobile phones, home appliances, commercial displays, air conditioning systems and solar energy solutions, all under LG's "Life's Good" marketing theme. LG Electronics is a 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year. For more information, please visit www.lg.com.

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SOURCE LG Electronics USA, Inc.