Jan 28, 2021 - News

Amanda Gorman to honor Tampa nurse with Super Bowl poem

Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images

Youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman, who stole the show at President Biden's inauguration, will honor a local nurse as a coronavirus hero at the Super Bowl, the NFL announced Wednesday.

What's happening: Suzie Dorner, the COVID ICU nurse manager at Tampa General Hospital, will be the subject of Gorman's poem — along with a Marine veteran from Pennsylvania and an L.A. educator.

  • The trio will also take part in the coin toss.
  • Dorner lost two grandparents to COVID-19 while working during the pandemic.

Flashback: The four most viral stories on social media from Inauguration Day all were about Gorman, according to Axios' Neal Rothschild and Sara Fischer.

The big picture: Axios also spoke with the first nurse in Florida to receive the COVID vaccine, Tampa General's Vanessa Arroyo, who found out yesterday morning that she's also going to the Super Bowl:

"The past 10 months have been the most difficult 10 months of my life. To see that the NFL and Tampa General realize our hard efforts and think we’re deserving to go to this once in a lifetime opportunity, it means a lot.
"There’s no monetary price on these things. It feels priceless."

This story first appeared in the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.

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