The National Football Foundation (NFF) Gridiron Club of Dallas Chapter will honor nine Texas collegiate scholar-athletes and 57 North Texas high school scholar-athletes for their accomplishments at the club’s Seventh Annual Awards Banquet tonight, April 6, at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. The group will include KHS Senior Aaron Williams and KISD Athletic Director Richard Barrett. {{more}}
Aaron Williams who made the 2015 4A All-State Football Academic Team has been selected by NFF Gridiron Club of Dallas as a North Texas high school scholar-athlete, one of just 57 selected across the area. Aaron is a Kennedale High School senior who is a top 10% student in the KHS Class of 2015 with a grade point average of 4.087on a 5.0 scale. He is a two sport letterman for Kennedale playing outside linebacker on the 12-1 2014 Wildcat football team and a starting outfielder for the Wildcat baseball team.
The Gridiron Club also selects high school coaches to honor. This year?s honorees include Class 5A Coach of the Year Jack Alvarez (Ennis), Class 4A Coach of the Year Richard Barrett (Kennedale) and Assistant Coach of the Year Clayton George (Southlake Carroll). Coach Barrett, KISD Athletic Director and KHS Head Football Coach has an overall record of 166-67-1 in twenty years as a head coach (Godley and Kennedale). This places him in the top 30 winningest active coaches in Texas High School Football.More than $10,000 in scholarships will be awarded during the banquet, with one high school player being named the club’s top scholar-athlete. In addition to the award winners, the event will also feature new SMU head coach Chad Morris as the keynote speaker and Award-winning sportscaster Scott Murray will serve as the evening’s emcee for the seventh consecutive year.
Selected from a pool of candidates that covers the entire region, the nine collegiate and 57 high school players earned NFF chapter scholar-athlete recognition in 2015. The selection committee, comprised of coaches, teachers, administrators and business leaders from North Texas, evaluated the college and high school candidates based on their athletic accomplishments, academic performance and leadership in the community. Click
for full listing
Other honorees this year include legendary former Southlake Carroll head football coach Bob Ledbetter, who will receive the Legends Award, and WFAA sports broadcaster Ted Madden, who will receive the chapter?s Media Person of the Year Award. Freeman Johns, a Big 12 Conference side judge who worked the inaugural CFP National Championship in January, will be honored as the Steve Storie Official of the Year.
About The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people.
