Football scholarship banquet Feb. 19 features That's Our Boy Awards
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The Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation has announced its annual scholarship awards banquet. The event is 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Original Montgomery Inn, 9440 Montgomery Road.
Tickets are available through the athletes nominated or you can contact the organization here, by phone at 513-518-8270 or by email at nffcincy@gmail.com.
The foundation will give out several special awards including the annual “That’s Our Boy” honors.
The Southwestern Ohio That’s Our Boy Award is named after Joe Quinn, a former sportswriter at the Cincinnati Post. Joe retired in October 1976, after working in the sports department of the Post for 41 years. Quinn organized the first meeting of high school coaches in Southwest Ohio, which became the Southwestern Ohio Football Coaches Association.
The finalists for the Southwest Ohio award are Ben Abbott (Fenwick), Massila “Red” Diawara (Gamble Montessori), Brady Kuhn (Anderson), Max Kief (La Salle), Calvin Lorek (Loveland), Grant Nurre (Kings), Pete Pendergest (Badin), Sam Reder (Summit Country Day), Landen Schultian (Bethel-Tate) and Luke Robinson (Mariemont).
The Northern Kentucky That’s My Boy Award is named for Brian P. Williams, a former award winner, who died in New York City in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, at age 30. Williams was a three-sport star and a star in the classroom at Covington Catholic High School. He was a team captain his senior year and was also first-team all-state as a tight end.
The Northern Kentucky finalists are Caden Kunstek (St. Henry), Jacob Savage (Ryle) and Will Sandfoss (Newport Central Catholic).
Last year’s winners were Waynesville’s Alex Amburgy in Ohio and Cooper’s Austin Alexander in Kentucky.
The Greater Cincinnati Chapter also will honor four scholar-athletes from Cincinnati-area colleges who have “demonstrated excellence on the gridiron, in their respective areas of studies and in their campus communities.”
Those athletes are Nicholas Paff (Mount St. Joseph), Jonathan Thompson (Cincinnati), Silas Walters (Miami) and Cam Weil (Thomas More).
The Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Greg Bailie, who spent four decades in football coaching. He was most recently the offensive line coach at Mount St. Joseph for five years. He was a head high school coach for 27 years, 16 of them in the Lakota school district. He was head coach at Lakota High School from 1993-96, then became the first football coach at Lakota East when the district split into two new high schools. He was head coach there until 2009.
The Contribution to Amateur Football Award is going to John Widecan, who has been involved with the University of Cincinnati football program for nearly 40 years. He joined the program in 1989 as a graduate assistant football coach and is currently the associate athletic director for football operations, overseeing the team’s daily schedule.
Currently, the foundation has not named a recipient of the Tom Potter Courage Award. This award is presented to a person who has overcome great obstacles in his life.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘That’s Our Boy’ nominees, other football honorees announced
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