Wallace Firm in Encino has teamed up with the Los Angeles Rams in Agoura Hills to launch the WallaceWins.com Heart & Hustle Award for local heroes as part of a multi-year partnership.The first recipient is 17-year-old Loyola High School of Los Angeles football player Josh Morales, who provided care for his parents and siblings while maintaining his schoolwork when he and his entire family contracted COVID-19 last year. The teen, while sick himself, facilitated doctor’s visits, cooked meals, and monitored his family’s health as his mother was bedridden and his father eventually hospitalized. After a full recovery, Morales received the award, a $5,000 donation to support his college education and two tickets to the Rams season opener at SoFi Stadium against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 12.“Partnering with the Rams while helping Josh Morales fulfill his dream of studying aerospace engineering and graduating from USC, is also a fulfillment of my own dreams. … I am thrilled to be partnering with L.A.’s original NFL team, an amazing and innovative organization that shares our law firm’s values,” Bradley Wallace, founder the Wallace Firm, said in a statement.The award is one element of an ongoing partnership between the football team and law firm. Additional efforts throughout the Rams partnership will include community days of service and Wallace Firm’s sponsorship of the team’s “Three Keys to Winning” article series, which aims to keep Rams fans connected with the team.
The firm also will sponsor a “Rams Win, You Win” sweepstakes, which will provide a VIP gameday experience for a winner and three guests. The winner will be selected following the team’s first regular season victory of the 2021 NFL season.
In addition to winning the Heart & Hustle award, Morales was featured in a short documentary that premiered on the WallaceWins website. It includes interviews with his family and coaches and shows the teenager receiving the inaugural award at the Rams’ Draft House in Malibu.“You always got to keep going, keep pushing, and I think that’s something football has really taught me, especially throughout these hard times with COVID,” Morales told ABC News. The recent high school graduate hopes to be the first person in his family with a four-year college degree, supported by funds received from the award.