Set for 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at War Memorial Auditorium<\/a>, this year\u2019s History Makers celebration continues a tradition of recognizing individuals and companies who have made significant contributions to the growth of the City of Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n \u201cFor more than three decades, the Florida Panthers have united the sports, business, media and philanthropic communities through their commitment and dedication to excellence,\u201d said Patricia Zeiler, History Fort Lauderdale\u2019s executive director. \u201cTheir stewardship in overseeing the transformation of the historic War Memorial Auditorium into an exciting new entertainment and recreation hub and enhanced time-honored memorial for Broward County\u2019s military veterans is unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n Since taking the ice for the first time in 1993, the Florida Panthers<\/a> have created an outstanding civic legacy. Their two championship runs alone have boosted the local economy by at least $110 million, according to the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority.<\/p>\n But the team\u2019s effect has made its mark off the ice as well. The Panthers invested $100 million into the construction of their official practice facility, the Baptist Health IcePlex<\/a>, and the adjacent, recently revitalized historic War Memorial Auditorium in Holiday Park<\/a>. As part of the project, the Panthers renovated all veteran art and monuments around the 44,000-square-foot multipurpose concert venue, including a merchant marine monument and various plaques honoring Broward County war veterans and casualties.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most important aspects to the revitalization was to preserve the historic 50-year-old legacy of War Memorial Auditorium, elevate the Broward County veteran monuments and provide a first-class experience for guests attending events here,\u201d said Rob Stevenson, Florida Panthers chief operating officer.<\/p>\n In addition, the Florida Panthers Foundation focuses on areas ranging from supporting health and education initiatives for children to raising awareness of the endangered Florida panther. Since the 2016-17 season, donations from various fund-raising events have contributed more than $8 million to local nonprofits in the South Florida community.<\/p>\n Previous honorees of the History Makers fundraiser have included such notable organizations and individuals as the Miller Family of Miller Construction Company, Galleria Fort Lauderdale, the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, H. Wayne Huizenga, Chris Evert and Jimmy Evert, Winterfest, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel<\/a>. Title sponsors are Alligator Ron and Ali Bergeron, Miles & Tara Forman and the Murphy Charitable Trust.<\/p>\n Formerly Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, History Fort Lauderdale offers educational experiences, cultural exhibits, research and preservation for future generations. Among its visitors, its Fort Lauderdale History Center and museums welcome 3,000 students each year.<\/p>\n Tickets for the History Makers fundraiser are $125 each. Event attendees can also get a VIP tour, including the locker rooms, underground basement and more, for $250. War Memorial Auditorium is at 800 NE Eighth St., Fort Lauderdale. For tickets, event sponsorships or more information, please visit historyfortlauderdale.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Florida Panthers\u2019 historic championship runs are being honored by a South Florida institution that knows a little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[102,249,251,250],"class_list":["post-72552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-city-shore-magazine","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/TFL-L-PANTHERS-STANLEY-G6-021.jpg\")
The Florida Panthers hold the Stanley Cup after Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. (Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n