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WOOTEN NAMED TO NFF HAMPSHIRE HONOR SOCIETY
Gamecock Kicker on List of Honorees
COLUMBIA, S.C. --
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF)
announced today the members of the 2012 NFF Hampshire Honor Society,
which is comprised of college football players from all divisions of
play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout
their college career.
University of South Carolina senior kicker
Jay Wooten was among the list of 721 players from 232 schools that
qualified for membership in the society's sixth year, marking this
year's class as the largest since the program's creation in 2007.
"The
growing number of students involved in the Hampshire Honor Society each
year shows that football student-athletes not only play at the highest
level but that they are some of the best students on campus as well,"
said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "We salute each one of
these young men for their commitment to education and their leadership
on and off the football field."
The NFF Hampshire Honor Society
capitalizes on the NFF's current National Scholar-Athlete program
greatly expanding the number of scholar-athletes the NFF can recognize
each year. The program further strengthens the organization's
leadership role in encouraging academic performance by the
student-athletes who play football at the more than 700 college and
universities with football programs nationwide. Jon F. Hanson, the
chairman and founder of The Hampshire Companies, provided the endowment
to launch the NFF Hampshire Honor Society in 2007. He made the
contribution as part of his legacy to the organization after serving as
NFF chairman from 1994-2006. He currently serves the organization as a
chairman emeritus. Each player awarded with membership in this year's
Honor Society will receive a certificate commemorating their
achievement.
"Thanks to the generosity of Jon Hanson, we have
honored more than 3,000 student-athletes in the last six years," said
NFF Chairman Archie Manning, "The Hampshire Honor Society allows us to
showcase how much football matters in building tomorrow's leaders, and
we strongly encourage every football-playing school in the country to
get involved."
Qualifications for membership in the NFF Hampshire Honor Society include:
•
Being a starter or a significant substitute in one's last year of
eligibility at an accredited NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, Football
Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III, or an NAIA college
or university;
• Achieving a 3.2
cumulative grade point average throughout entire course of
undergraduate study; and
• Meeting all NCAA-mandated progress towards degree requirements and graduation.
The
Hampshire Honor Society represents a powerful component in the
organization's rich history as an innovator in promoting the
scholar-athlete ideal. Launched in 1959 with a donation from Hall of
Fame coach Earl "Red" Blaik, the NFF's National Scholar-Athlete Awards,
presented by Fidelity Investments, became the first initiative in
history to grant postgraduate scholarships based on a player's combined
academic success, football performance and community leadership. And,
since its inception, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program
has awarded $9.8 million to 756 top scholars and community leaders.
Currently,
the NFF distributes more than $300,000 a year at the national level
through the program to 16 individuals. Each winner of a National
Scholar-Athlete Award receives an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship.
Additionally, the William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth,
is given to one member of each year's class as the absolute best. The
winner of the Campbell Trophy, claimed by Army linebacker Andrew
Rodriguez in 2011, receives a total scholarship of $25,000 and a
24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy. Through, its chapter network, the NFF
also awards an additional $1 million to local high school
student-athletes, bringing the NFF's annual scholarship distribution
total to more than $1.3 million.
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