The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

to promote and develop amateur

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academic excellence in America's young people." It was founded in 1947 with early leadership from

General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...

, longtime

Army Black Knights football The Army Black Knights football team, previously known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. Army is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member of the NCAA. The Black Knights play home ...

coach Earl Blaik and journalist Grantland Rice. In addition to supporting amateur football on the local level, the National Football Foundation also oversees the support, administration, and operation of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

in Atlanta. The Foundation also tabulated and released the Bowl Championship Series Standings each Fall and hosts an Annual Awards Dinner in December at the Waldorf-Astoria in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. ,

Archie Manning Elisha Archibald Manning III (born May 19, 1949) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New Orleans Saints. He played for the Saints from 1971 to 1982 and al ...

, a former

Ole Miss Rebels football The Ole Miss Rebels football program represents the University of Mississippi, also known as "Ole Miss". The Rebels compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division ...

All-American and member of the College Football Hall of Fame, serves as chairman, and Steven J. Hatchell, the former commissioner of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

and executive director of the

FedEx Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game i ...

, serves as president and CEO. The foundation has 120 local chapters distributed among 47 states. Since 1956, more than 100,000 volunteers have become members.

History

The NFF was incorporated as the ''National Football Shrine and Hall of Fame'' on December 8, 1947 in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...

by Arthur Evans and within a year, sportswriter Grantland Rice and Army football coach Earl Blaik joined the board. The NFF was reorganized in 1954 with 11 schools serving as "founding subscribers":

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model ...

, Dartmouth,

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, Notre Dame, Penn,

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

, and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. Chet LaRoche became the organization’s first chairman in 1955 and invited General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...

to become chairman of the board in May 1958. Leadership of MacArthur, Blaik, and Rice to the NFF offered credibility and national prominence to the organization.

Awards

Among its other programs and initiatives includes the facilitation of the Play It Smart program, which places a trained "academic coach" who turns football teams into learning teams in underserved high schools across the country, and the awarding of the William V. Campbell Trophy, referred to in many circles as the "Academic Heisman". In spring 2007, the NFF launched the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, a recognition program for players who excel both on the field and in the classroom. Inductees must have been a starter in their final collegiate season and have earned a 3.2 cumulative GPA for their undergraduate degree. The NFF issues a number of awards, including:

National Scholar-Athlete Awards

Founded in 1959, the award is presented each season to the nation's top scholar-athletes for excellence in academics, athletics and leadership. Each year, between 15 and 17 scholar-athletes are chosen from the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

Divisions I (both I-A/FBS and I-AA/FCS), II and

III III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * ...

and the NAIA and awarded a $18,000 scholarship. One of the recipients is chosen and awarded the William V. Campbell Trophy (formerly the Draddy Trophy). Notable former National Scholar-Athletes in the NFL include

Ryan Tannehill Ryan Timothy Tannehill III (born July 27, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas A&M, where he was a wide receiver until his junior year, an ...

( Texas A&M, 2011) and Joe Thomas (

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, 2006) and

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

winners Peyton (

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

, 1997) and

Eli Manning Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning football dynasty, he is the youngest son ...

(

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, 2003),

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees i ...

(

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mo ...

, 2000), Jonathan Vilma (

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, 2003) and

Dennis Dixon Dennis Lee Dixon Jr. (born January 11, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft and played with the team through 2011. He was a member of the Baltimore Rav ...

(

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, 2007). Non-sporting former recipients include

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

and

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

-nominated actor

Mark Harmon Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in '' NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of ...

(

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

astronaut and

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

flight test engineer A flight test engineer (FTE) is an engineer involved in the flight testing of prototype aircraft or aircraft systems. Overview The flight test engineer generally has overall responsibility for the planning of a specific flight test phase, which ...

Michael S. Hopkins (

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

), former USAF pilot and incumbent

Hampden–Sydney College gr, Ye Shall Know the Truth , established = , type = Private liberal arts men's college , religious_affiliation = Presbyterian Church (USA) , endowment = $258 million (2021) , president = Larry Stimpert , city = Hampden Sydney, Virginia , co ...

President

Christopher B. Howard Christopher B. Howard is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Arizona State University Public Enterprise in Tempe, Arizona where he started on February 7, 2022. Previously, he served as the 8th president of Robert Morri ...

( U.S. Air Force Academy) and NBC anchor

Stone Phillips Stone Stockton Phillips (born December 2, 1954) is an American television reporter and correspondent. He is best known as the former co-anchor of ''Dateline NBC'', a news magazine TV series. He also has worked as a substitute anchor for ''NBC N ...

(

National Football Foundation Gold Medal

The Gold Medal, the NFF’s highest honor, has been presented to seven U.S. Presidents, four U.S. Generals, three U.S. Admirals, one U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 25 Corporate CEOs and Chairmen. The most recent recipient of the award was

, in 2019.

Distinguished American Award

Presented on special occasions when a truly deserving individual emerges, the award honors someone who has applied the character building attributes learned from amateur sport in their business and personal life, exhibiting superior leadership qualities in education, amateur athletics, business and in the community. The award was most recently bestowed in 2016, to William H. McRaven.

MacArthur Bowl

Every year, the National Football Foundation awards the

MacArthur Bowl The MacArthur Bowl is a trophy awarded annually by the National Football Foundation (NFF) (owners and operators of the College Football Hall of Fame) to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football team(s) that are recognized ...

to the

NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS) college football team determined to be the national champion. The award recipients since 2000 are: *2000:

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early part ...

*2001: Miami Hurricanes *2002:

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

*2003:

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

: vacated *2005:

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

*2006:

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as th ...

*2007:

*2008:

*2009:

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

*2010:

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associ ...

*2011:

*2012:

*2013:

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivi ...

*2014:

*2015:

*2016:

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

*2017:

*2018:

*2019:

*2020:

*2021:

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

John L. Toner Award

The annual award is given to an

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football. The award's namesake and first recipient served as the head football coach at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

(UConn) from 1966 to 1970 and as the school's athletic director from 1969 to 1987. ''Note: * = posthumously'' *1997: John L. Toner *1998:

Doug Dickey Douglas Adair Dickey (born June 24, 1932) is an American former college football player and coach and college athletics administrator. Dickey is a South Dakota native who was raised in Florida and graduated from the University of Florida, w ...

*1999:

Jake Crouthamel John Jacob Crouthamel (June 27, 1938 November 6, 2022) was an American football player, coach, and college athletic director. Early life and education Crouthamel was born in eastern Pennsylvania to Kathryn Apple and Russell Crouthamel, who r ...

and Davey Nelson* *2000: Frank Broyles *2001: Milo R. "Mike" Lude *2002: Bill Byrne *2003:

Andy Geiger Ferdinand "Andy" Geiger (born March 23, 1939) is a former athletic director at six different institutions, most recently holding that position from May 10, 2012, to August 30, 2013, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His most notable time a ...

and

John Clune John J. Clune (October 29, 1932 – April 4, 1992) was the long-time director of athletics at the United States Air Force Academy. The Clune Arena at the academy is named in his memory. A native of Jersey City, New Jersey, Clune graduated from ...

* *2004: Vince Dooley *2005: Jack Lengyel *2006:

DeLoss Dodds DeLoss Dodds (born August 8, 1939) was the sixth men's athletic director of The University of Texas at Austin. During his tenure as AD from the fall of 1981 to November 2013, Texas won 19 National Championships and 287 conference titles. Dodds an ...

*2007:

Jeremy Foley Jeremy N. Foley (born December 1, 1952) is an American university sports administrator and former college athlete. Foley was an award-winning athletic director for the Florida Gators Division I sports program of the University of Florida locate ...

*2008: Gene Smith *2009: Jim Weaver *2010:

Robert Mulcahy Robert Edward Mulcahy III (1932 – February 7, 2022) was an American college athletics administrator. He served as the athletic director at Rutgers University from 1998 to 2009. Early life and education Mulcahy attended Millburn High School in ...

*2011: vacated *2012: Mal Moore *2013:

Joe Castiglione Joseph John Castiglione (born March 2, 1947) is an American radio announcer for the Boston Red Sox baseball team,Joe Castig ...

*2014: Kevin White *2015:

Mark Hollis Mark David Hollis (4 January 1955 – February 2019) was an English musician and singer-songwriter. He achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the 1980s and 1990s as the co-founder, lead singer and principal songwriter of the band ...

*2016: Chet Gladchuk *2017:

Dan Guerrero Dan Guerrero (born November 10, 1951) is best known for being the athletic director for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He also has served as the chairman of the Selection Committee for the NCAA Division I men's basketball tour ...

*2018: Thomas Beckett and Bob Scalise *2019:

Deborah Yow Deborah Ann Yow (born September 1, 1950Debbie Yow Is ...

*2020: Jack Swarbrick Source:

Chris Schenkel Award

Named in honor of broadcaster

Chris Schenkel Christopher Eugene Schenkel (August 21, 1923 – September 11, 2005) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of five decades he called play-by-play for numerous sports on television and radio, becoming known for his smooth delivery and ...

, the award is given annually to distinctive individuals in broadcasting with ties to a university. * 1996:

* 1997:

Jack Cristil Jacob Sanford "Jack" Cristil (December 10, 1925 – September 7, 2014) was the long-time radio voice of Mississippi State University Bulldog men's basketball and football. Over his 58-year tenure (1953–2011), Cristil called 636 football games ...

* 1998: Max Falkenstien * 1999: Jack Fleming * 2000:

Ray Christensen Raymond P. "Ray" Christensen (May 6, 1924 – February 5, 2017) was an American sportscaster who was the play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Golden Gophers sports teams from 1951 until 2001, working for WCCO in Minneapolis starting in 1963 ...

* 2001: Frank Fallon (Baylor) * 2002: Bob Brooks (Iowa) * 2003:

Larry Munson Lawrence Harry Munson (September 28, 1922 – November 20, 2011) was an American sports announcer and talk-show host based out of the U.S. city of Athens, Georgia. He was best known for handling radio play-by-play of University of Georgia B ...

* 2004: Bob Robertson * 2005: Tony Roberts * 2006: Johnny Holliday * 2007:

Bill Hillgrove William Thomas Hillgrove (born November 20, 1940) is an American sports broadcaster, radio personality, and sports journalist. Hillgrove is a notable broadcaster in his hometown of Pittsburgh, and has worked exclusively in that market. He is the ...

* 2008: Bob Curts (Idaho) & Dick Galiette (Yale) * 2009: Larry Zimmer (Colorado) * 2010: Joe Starkey * 2011: Woody Durham * 2012:

Bob Barry Sr. Robert Guyton Barry Sr. (February 28, 1931 – October 30, 2011) was an American television and radio sportscaster, and was formerly the weeknight sports anchor during the 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts on Oklahoma City, Oklahoma NBC affiliate ...

* 2013:

Gene Deckerhoff Emerson Eugene Deckerhoff, Jr. (born May 2, 1945) is the radio play-by-play announcer of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a post he has held since 1989. He also served as the longtime voice of the Florida State Seminoles, calling games for the ...

* 2014:

Frank Beckmann Frank Carl Beckmann (November 3, 1949February 12, 2022) was a German-born American broadcaster and talk radio host on WJR in Detroit, Michigan. He also was the radio play-by-play announcer for University of Michigan football from 1981 to 2013. ...

* 2015: Jim Hawthorne * 2016:

Bob Rondeau Bob Rondeau is a retired American sports announcer. He is known for a 37-year career associated with University of Washington athletics. Early life Rondeau grew up in Colorado. He majored in journalism at Colorado, graduating in 1972. Career R ...

* 2017: Jon Teicher (UTEP) * 2018: Dave South (Texas A&M) * 2019: Eli Gold * 2020: Dave Walsh (Wyoming) Source:

Poll

The poll was started in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

; 10 members of the NFF vote in a poll in partnership with the

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control American football mass media College football awards organizations College Football Hall of Fame Sports organizations established in 1947 1947 establishments in the United States Sports charities College football championships