When BYU football coach Kalani Sitake considered accepting another job offer last December, he remembered walking into his office and seeing Patty Edwards waiting for him.

Edwards, the wife of former BYU football coach LaVell Edwards, had a chair pulled up close to where she was sitting and said, “Come here sweetheart, have a seat,” Sitake said.

“Immediately, I sat down and we were knee to knee and eye to eye, and she expressed to me how much she loved this place,” Sitake told a crowd at the Utah County State of the County address in Provo on Tuesday. “She started talking about legacy and LaVell, and it was what I needed to hear. We have everything here.”

Sitake heeded the advice of Edwards, who passed away Feb. 13, declining an offer to become Penn State’s next football coach and instead signing an extension with BYU.

On Tuesday, he was honored by Utah County as “Person of the Year” for his leadership at BYU and in the community. He expressed his appreciation for the place he calls home.

“I’m human,” Sitake said. “I have a lot of faults, and one of them is listening to people tell me how great it would be in other places, and how you could be given so many resources.

“Sometimes we all just need reminders of what home truly is and how special this place is, and so I’ll never take it for granted.”

Sitake received the honor alongside Jim Evans, the executive director of the Freedom Festival and former Orem mayor. Thanksgiving Point was named Organization of the Year, and Harward Farms was awarded Business of the Year.

Sitake spent his first years of life on Hawaii’s North Shore but said after his parents’ divorce, he moved to numerous cities across the country before his dad decided to settle in Provo when he was 9.

He said he’s seen Utah County’s remarkable growth, from when there were just a few stoplights in Provo and Utah Valley University was a community college. When he first moved to Provo, Sitake said there was one Polynesian ward for the entire county. Since then, that one ward has grown to three Polynesian stakes.

“I recognize all the people and hard work and effort that goes into making this place a beautiful and loving home, and that’s the entire county and everyone who does all the work,” he said.

Sitake said he is proud to be an American citizen and is grateful for the government leaders who maintain freedom in the country.

“It’s a great place where no matter what your faith is, you can exercise it,” he said. “And so I can freely say that I am grateful that I get to be a disciple in Christ, and I get to try to help others, and that I’ve been raised by an amazing village of Utah County.”

Evans was honored for his years of community service throughout his life, from putting on the Freedom Festival Fourth of July Parade to his leadership in Orem, on the Alpine School District board and in his current role as Region 3 commission chair at the Utah Department of Transportation.

“What I love most about Jim is he’s a quiet go-do-it guy who doesn’t need any recognition. He is not in the spotlight, and that epitomizes Utah County,” Commission Chair Skyler Beltran said. “We have so many amazing people who work, work, work, do not get any credit or any recognition. They don’t seek it. And Jim is a great example of that.”

Evans said he loves serving the community and that it has been a huge blessing in his life.

“Think of the thousands and thousands of people you get to meet and interact with. It just makes me a better person,” he said.