Volume 2, Issue 6 - FootballFoundation.org

The National Football Foundation
CHAPTER NETWOR
NETWORK
K
Vol. 2, Issue 6
Building Leaders Through Football
April 3, 2006
More than 365 people attended the Walter Zable/San
Diego Chapter’s 34th Annual Scholar-Leader-Athlete Awards
Banquet on March 10. The chapter honored 32 high school
and college players for maintaining a 3.0 GPA or better and
earning all-league recognition. The group held an average GPA
of 3.87.
NFF
President
Steven J. Hatchell spoke as a
distinguished guest, and Paul
Rudy, KUSI-TV Sports Director, served as the master of
ceremonies.
Contribution to Amateur Football Awards were
presented to Deborah Winters,
commissioner of Palomar Pop
Warner; and Rikki Kinsfather,
the commissioner of San Diego
Youth Football. Jason Texler,
Steven J. Hatchell
the head coach at El Cajon
Valley High School, took home Coach of the Year honors, and
Ron Hamamoto, the coach at Rancho Bernardo High
School,earned recognition as the Meritorious Coach of the Year.
The Willie Jones Most Inspirational Player
Award went to Trevor Reilly of Valley Center High School.
Willie Jones, a 3.97 GPA student in high school and a chapter
scholar-athlete in 1994, had earned a four-year scholarship to
Cornell University, but at the age of 18, a sudden act of violence
tragically ended his life. The chapter vowed to preserve his memory with the award, and this year, Jones’ parents, Rosetta and
Willie Sr., presented the award to Reilly, whose résumé includes
unknowingly playing on a broken foot; captaining his team to
back-to-back CIF championships; maintaining a 3.3 GPA; helping the team’s running back deal with an unstable home situation;
and overcoming the loss of his younger brother.
Willie Sr. and Rosetta Jones with Trevor Reilly
CHAPTER PLAYPLAY-BYBY-PLAY
PLAY
Darrell Brooks
The
Southern
Arizona Chapter honored
longtime Pac-10 official Bob
Beal and coach Larry Smith
at a March 5 banquet. Beal
played football at the University of Arizona before becoming a Tucson attorney while
Smith has held the head coaching position at Arizona,
Tulane, USC and Missouri. In
addition to recognizing 11
high school scholar-athletes,
the chapter honored graduating
Arizona safety Darrell
Brooks for his accomplishments on and off the field.
Michael Bates, who
played at Arizona prior to both
winning a Bronze medal in the
100 meters at the 1992
Barcelona Olympics and
enjoying a 12-year NFL
career, delivered the evening’s
keynote address before an
audience of 300 people.
With 150 people in
attendance, the Auburn
Chapter presented high
school football coach Spence
McCracken with its
Outstanding Contribution to
Amateur Athletics Award on
March 7. McCracken, who
played for the Auburn Tigers
www.footballfoundation.org
from 1969-71, has garnered a
lifetime high school coaching
record of 251-71-1, including
stints at Opelika High,
Montgomery Academy and
Lee High.
The chapter also
honored four members of the
Auburn University team as
student-athletes, including
tight end Cole Bennett, punter
Kody Bliss, tailback Carl
Stewart and junior noseguard
Josh Thompson. Auburn
Head Coach Tommy Tuberville presented the high school
scholarship awards, and
former Auburn All-America
Ed Dyas, a 2006 candidate for
the College Football Hall of
Fame, also attended the event.
The chapter distributed a total
of $2,000 in scholarships.
Tommy Tuberville
Looking to promote
football in the off-season, the
Northwest Indiana Chapter
held a Mid-Winter Football
Fest Feb. 27.
(Continued on page 2)
(Continued from page 1)
Purdue Head Coach
Joe Tiller and several members of his staff attended the
event, which was jointly sponsored by the chapter and Gold
& Black Illustrated to provide
a venue to talk pigskin during
the winter months. The event
corralled 11 new members for
the chapter, which now boasts
a membership of 170 in just its
second year of existence.
Joe Tiller
Several former
Purdue standouts returned for
the event, including Gilbert
Gardner, currently a reserve
linebacker with the Colts,
John Standeford, a receiver
with the Colts, Tim Stratton,
who played for the Boilermakers from 1998-2001, and Bart
Burrell, who played from
1977-80.
The Bill Denny/
Central Jersey Chapter
honored 24 scholar-athletes at
its 38th annual awards banquet
on March 19. All 24 honorees
received scholarships, with
their top scholar-athlete
earning a $1,000 award. The
chapter also recognized
Rutgers' assistant coach
Joe Susan as their Distinguished American.
The King County/
Seattle Chapter held its 40th
annual banquet on March 5,
awarding $7,000 to eight finalists who were selected from
The National Football Foundation
120 nominees from the more
than 60 schools covered by
the chapter.
All College Football Hall of Fame
ballots are due by April 5.
REMEMBER TO VOTE!
EXTRA POINTS:
• Illinois Head Coach Ron Zook has agreed to serve on the
Tyrone Willingham
Chicago Chapter’s board of directors.
Washington head
coach Tyrone Willingham
delivered the keynote speech,
and long-time high school
coach and author Dee Hawkes
accepted the Tony Gasparovich Memorial Coach
Award, which the chapter
presents to an individual who
exhibits love and dedication of
the game.
• Phil Krause, the son of legendary Notre Dame Athletics
Director Moose Krause, has been elected the new president
of the Moose Krause Chapter, replacing Bill Starck, who
served as president for 25 years before passing away last
August.
T he Wyo mi ng
Chapter distributed a record
amount to its scholarship
class on March 18, awarding
$18,500 to 16 scholarathletes and one Courage
Award Winner.
“Tonight, all you
guys are winners,” said Joe
Glenn, head coach at the
University of Wyoming.
“After seeing what you’ve
done for everybody at this
stage of your life, you’re all
going to be big winners in
life. There’s no doubt in my
mind.” The scholarship
Corey Bramlet
recipients included four
brothers of former scholar-athletes, most notably Corey Bramlet
who followed in the footsteps of his brother Casey, who was a
chapter scholar-athlete in 2003. Corey ranks No. 7 in UW history in career total offense with 5,507 yards while Casey ranks
No. 39 in NCAA history for total offense with 9,575 yards. Chris
Prosinski, from Buffalo High School, claimed the chapter’s top
award as the state’s most outstanding scholar-athlete.
“We have some outstanding young men playing football around the state,” said Chapter President Mike
Schutte. “Every one of them deserves to be recognized.”
The chapter posted a record number of nominations for its awards this year with 103 candidates vying for recognition. Matthew Sign, chief operating officer of the NFF, also
spoke as featured speaker, paying tribute to the work of the chapter and the accomplishments of the scholar-athletes.
Schutte noted the dividends that the National Football
Foundation’s Play It Smart program has produced, citing the
work of Wayne Korhonen, the academic coach at Cheyenne
East High School, which had 8 scholar-athletes nominated this
year. Prior to Play It Smart, Cheyenne East had only produced a
total of 10 nominations in the preceding 11 years.
Despite a horrific
wind and rainstorm, more than
450 people braved the weather
March 9 for the 40th annual
Middle Tennessee Chapter
banquet. The chapter honored
a record-number of 48 scholarathletes while distributing
$21,000. Martha Ingram,
chairman of Ingram Industries
and chairman of the Vanderbilt Board of Trustees, became
the first woman recipient of
the Fred Russell Distinguished
American Award in chapter
history. Ingram received a
standing ovation for her extraordinary support and contributions to the region.
Martha Ingram
2
April 3, 2006