Established: 1959

Click Here to See the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award Recipients

The NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards Presented by Fidelity Investments were established in 1959 as the first initiative in history to honor scholar-athletes with postgraduate scholarships for their combined athletic, academic and leadership abilities. Early NFF leader and College Football Hall of Fame coach Col. Earl “Red” Blaik provided the funds for the first scholarships.

During the past 65 years, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards have truly become one of the most prestigious academic honors in all of college sports, distributing $12.3 million to 906 outstanding individuals since its inception.

Criteria and Selection Process 
Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates must be:

* Be either a senior player, who will complete his final year of eligibility during the current season OR a graduated player who has been enrolled in school at least three (3) years (even if he has remaining eligibility);
 
* Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2 on a 4.0 scale;
 
* Have outstanding football ability as a starter/significant contributor; and
 
* Have exemplary leadership on the field, in the classroom and within the community.

The NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Fame inductees and athletics administrators. The committee traditionally selects 12-15 scholar-athletes from across the country for these prestigious $18,000 postgraduate scholarships, and they consider candidates from all levels of college football, including the Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III and the NAIA, in making their selections.

In addition to their $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, each member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award also becomes a finalist for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy®, which identifies one individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the country and increases their postgraduate scholarship to $25,000.

Each member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments travels to the NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas, where they sit on the dais and have their accomplishments highlighted in front of one of the most powerful and influential audiences in all of sports. Live during the event, one member of the class will be announced as the recipient of the Campbell Trophy® and give a speech. The event also includes the induction of the College Football Hall of Fame Class and the presentation of several major awards.  

Past recipients have used their postgraduate scholarships to set the standard for excellence in our society, earning more than 155 medical degrees, 105 law degrees, 80 MBAs and 45 PhDs. Others have used the financial backing to enhance their successful careers in finance, consulting and engineering. Continuing their excellence on the field, more than 250 recipients have played in the NFL with an average career of six seasons or double the length of a typical NFL player.

A total of 41 former National Scholar-Athletes have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and seven are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Tony Boselli (Southern California), Derrick Brooks (Florida State), Dave Casper (Notre Dame), Peyton Manning (Tennessee), Merlin Olsen (Utah State), Lee Roy Selmon (Oklahoma) and Steve Young (BYU). Past recipients also include 13 Rhodes Scholars and six Heisman Trophy winners.
 
Past Scholar-Athletes have made it big in a variety of fields, including UCLA’s Mark Harmon, an actor and film producer; Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury, the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals; and Richmond’s Leland Melvin and Illinois’s Michael Hopkins, NASA astronauts. NFF National Scholar-Athletes who became NFL stalwarts include Drew Brees, Derek Carr, Kirk Cousins, Doug Flutie, Joey Galloway, Randy Gradishar, Brian Griese, Jeff Hostetler, Bradie James, Eli Manning, Johnny Musso, Jonathan Vilma and Wesley Walls.




Fidelity Investments - Presenting Sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards
Fidelity Investments is the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards. Fidelity, a leading provider of workplace savings plans in higher education, also serves as the presenting sponsor of the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes and NFF Faculty Salutes. For more information about Fidelity, visit fidelity.com/about. 




Scholar-Athlete Endowments
Since the inaugural class in 1959, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards have become among the most sought-after and prestigious honors in all of college football. Like any great institution, the program required powerful visionaries to help with its launch, but equally important have been the subsequent generations of individuals who have stepped forward to build upon the ground work laid by their forerunners.

During the modern era, several key torchbearers have stepped forward to endow or fund specific scholarships. Their generosity and heartfelt desire to give back currently allows the NFF to annually distribute up to $300,000 for the postgraduate educations of a select few who have clearly built records that signal future greatness later in life.

In 1997, the NFF kicked off a large campaign to endow its National Scholar-Athlete Awards. In 2003, George M. Steinbrenner III became the first to endow two National Scholar-Athlete Awards. Today, the future has been secured for the annual $18,000 scholarships, thanks to the leadership of the following individuals and organizations.


THE WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL TROPHY®
College Football’s Premier Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by Encompass Health in 2001
 
In 2001, Encompass Health (formerly HealthSouth), one of the nation’s largest outpatient surgery and rehabilitative healthcare providers, endowed the scholarship that accompanies The William V. Campbell Trophy®. Established in 1990, the award annually honors one member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary community leadership. The winner receives an increase of $7,000 for a total scholarship of $25,000. Encompass Health became affiliated with the award to further the standards of excellence in athletic competition and academic achievement.


E. DOUGLAS KENNA
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by E. Douglas Kenna in 1997

The quintessential athlete, scholar, businessman and community leader, Doug Kenna quarterbacked the 1944 Army team to the national championship. He was also an All-America basketball player at West Point, captained the tennis team, and was Class President and Regimental Commander. After serving America in Germany, he returned to be one of Col. Earl Blaik’s assistant coaches before entering the business world. He held several executive positions, including president and director of Carrier Corporation, G.L. Ohrstrom & Company, Roper Industries and Robert B. Anderson Company. A College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Kenna served as NFF vice chairman from 1986-91. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 88.


WILLIAM PEARCE
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by William A. Schreyer in 1997
 
In honor of his dear friend, the late NFF Chairman Bill Pearce, William Schreyer endowed a National Scholar-Athlete Award in 1997. A graduate of Penn State, Schreyer headed Merrill Lynch and served as a member of the NFF Board of Directors from 1991-2011. Schreyer donated more than $55 million to Penn State, which helped created the Schreyer Honors College and truly changed the shape of the institution. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 83.

 
F.M. KIRBY
Scholar-Athlete Award
Funded by the National Football Foundation in 1997
 
A graduate of Lafayette College, F.M. Kirby played on the Leopards’ undefeated 1940 football team. After serving as a Naval Reserve Officer in World War II, he earned an MBA from Harvard. Kirby went on to be chairman and CEO of Alleghany Corporation and also served as a director of many of the nation’s largest corporations and financial institutions. A stalwart in the community, his philanthropic involvement continues through the F.M. Kirby Foundation with more than $500 million in assets. The 2000 recipient of the NFF Gold Medal, Kirby served on the NFF Board of Directors from 1982 until his passing in 2011 at the age of 91. In recognition of his many years of leadership and unwavering support, the NFF named one of the National Scholar-Athlete Awards in his honor in 1997.
 

COACH EDDIE ROBINSON
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by the George M. Steinbrenner Family and the New York Yankees in 1997
 
Aside from his well-known success with the Yankees, George Steinbrenner was a staunch supporter of the NFF for many years with roots in football. A multisport athlete at Culver Military Academy, Steinbrenner matriculated to Williams College (Mass.) before becoming an assistant football coach at Northwestern and Purdue. When establishing this endowment, he named it in honor of his longtime friend Eddie Robinson, the legendary Hall of Fame Coach at Grambling State.
A true believer in the power of football to shape young men, Steinbrenner hung a sign of MacArthur’s famous quote, “There is no substitute for victory,” at Yankee Stadium as an inspiration to his players. Steinbrenner served on the NFF Board from 1998 until his passing in 2010 at the age of 80. Robinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997 and passed away at the age of 88 in 2007.
 

ROBERT A. SIMMS
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by Robert A. Simms in 1997
 
A former football star at Rutgers University, Robert Simms was the first to fully endow a Scholar-Athlete Award. After graduating from Rutgers in 1960, Simms played three seasons in the NFL with the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers before embarking on a business career that encompassed positions with Jackson & Curtis; Black & Company; and Bear, Stearns & Company, where he made general partner. Today, he is president of Snake River Capital and is an emeritus member of the NFF Board.
 

THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by the NFL in 1999
 
The National Football League has always been a strong supporter of the Foundation’s programs and mission. Their commitment to endow a National Scholar-Athlete Award only strengthened that position and further exemplifies the NFL’s commitment to education and youth development. Current Commissioner Roger Goodell carries on this tradition of support by meeting each year with the recipient of the award endowed by the NFL.
 

JOHN H. McCONNELL
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by John H. McConnell in 1999
 
Following his service in the Navy during World War II, John McConnell enrolled at Michigan State, where he played offensive guard for the Spartans. He founded Worthington Industries in 1955 and built the company into an international manufacturing company. McConnell owned the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets and an Arena Football League team in Columbus. Among many business and civic awards, McConnell received the NFF’s highest honor, the Gold Medal, in 1998. McConnell passed away in 2008. He was 85.
 

COACH LOU SABAN
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by George M. Steinbrenner III in 2003
 
In 2003, George Steinbrenner increased his support of the NFF Scholar-Athlete Awards program by endowing in perpetuity a second award in honor of his longtime friend, coach Lou Saban. Steinbrenner and Saban traced their professional connections and friendship back to 1948, when both were involved in a Cleveland youth track and field program. Seven years later, the relationship deepened when Saban hired Steinbrenner as an assistant football coach at Northwestern University. At the time of endowing the scholarship in Saban’s name, Steinbrenner recalled working for Saban as a great lesson in discipline and loyalty, calling him “the ultimate warrior, molder of men and builder of teams.” Saban passed away in 2009 at the age of 87, and Steinbrenner passed away in 2010 at the age of 80.
 

JAMES J. CAMPBELL
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by William V. Campbell in 2005.
 
A native of Homestead, Pennsylvania, Jim Campbell was a three-sport athlete at the U.S. Naval Academy, earning All-America honors in football and lacrosse while also playing basketball. A three-year football letterman, he played end on the Navy team that met Texas in the 1964 Cotton Bowl for the national championship. An F-4 pilot, Campbell served in Vietnam, flying more than 200 combat missions, fighting the devastating fire on the USS Forrestal that claimed 134 lives and earning a Navy Cross. From 1985-88, he served as a Navy deputy athletics director, followed by a successful career in resort management. He passed away in 2006. His brother Bill, a longtime NFF Board Member and the namesake of the Campbell Trophy®, endowed the scholarship in Jim’s memory. Bill passed away in 2016 at the age of 75.
 

JEFFERSON W. KIRBY
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by the F.M. Kirby Foundation in 2005
 
Founder and managing member of Broadfield Capital, an investment firm located in Morristown, New Jersey, Kirby joined the NFF Board in 1998, becoming an emeritus member in 2011. He is the current chairman of the Alleghany Corporation, and he has continued his father F.M.’s philanthropic vision through his work with the F.M. Kirby Foundation. Known as an astute businessman, Kirby has served on numerous other corporate boards. He is an alumnus of Lafayette College; holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University; and serves as a board member of each institution.


COACH BOBBY BOWDEN
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by Phil Knight and Nike in 2010
 
In tribute to a remarkable coaching career that impacted the lives of countless young men, Nike and its chairman and co-founder Phil Knight endowed an NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award in honor of coaching legend Bobby Bowden. The relationship between Knight and Bowden spanned many years, and the two men maintained close ties with a deep mutual respect for each other and their respective leadership abilities. Both men claimed the NFF Gold Medal in recognition of their significant career achievements and for demonstrating integrity, honesty and the core values of college football. Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006, Bowden coached seven NFF National Scholar-Athletes at Florida State while amassing an all-time record of 377-129-4 for an astounding .743 win percentage. Bowden passed away in 2021.
 

GENERAL ROBERT R. NEYLAND
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed by The Haslam Family Foundation in 2012
 
A star lineman at West Point who reached the rank of brigadier general between his head coaching stints at Tennessee, Robert R. Neyland instilled in his Volunteer players a military sense of organization, discipline and teamwork. James A. Haslam II, a tackle on Neyland’s 1951 national championship team and the 1952 captain, learned these lessons well. Starting with a single gas station in 1958, Haslam founded the Pilot Corporation, turning it into the largest operator of travel plazas in North America with sales in excess of $4 billion. In a fitting tribute to his coach, Haslam endowed one of the prestigious NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards in Neyland’s honor, perpetuating the Hall of Fame coach’s legacy and his remarkable lifetime record of 173-31-12.
 

COACH BOB BLACKMAN
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed in 2014
 
Through generous support, the Coach Bob Blackman Scholar-Athlete Award was endowed in 2014 to honor the legacy of the College Football Hall of Fame coach. Stricken with polio before his college varsity career at the University of Southern California could unfold, Blackman joined the USC coaching staff while he was still an undergraduate. He graduated cum laude in 1942 and a year later earned his master’s degree from USC. Blackman made his biggest mark as Dartmouth’s head coach from 1955-70, leading the Big Green to seven Ivy League championships and a 104-37-3 record. His teams went undefeated in 1962, 1965 and 1970. He also coached Illinois and Cornell before his retirement in 1982. Blackman passed away in March 2000 at the age of 81.


NEW YORK ATHLETIC CLUB
Scholar-Athlete Award
Funded by the New York Athletic Club since 2014
 
In 2013, the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) became the official home of The William V. Campbell Trophy®. As part of the partnership, the trophy occupies a prominent section of the NYAC Hall of Fame, featuring the names of each of the Campbell Trophy® winners, and the NYAC also funds an NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award. Founded in 1868, the New York Athletic Club boasts a unique and rich history with strong ties to Olympic sports, including its athletes having won 271 Olympic medals. The NYAC Board of Governors wanted to strengthen its ties to college football, and the NFF provided the perfect match because of their roots in New York City and goals of promoting the scholar-athlete ideal, sportsmanship and dedication to excellence.


COACH PAUL "BEAR" BRYANT
Scholar-Athlete Award
Endowed in 2015
 
The Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant Scholar-Athlete Award was endowed through generous support led by Edgar Welden. After stints at Maryland, Kentucky and Texas A&M, Bryant made his biggest impact as the head coach at Alabama from 1958-82. It was there he amassed six national championships and 13 SEC titles. Upon his retirement in 1982, his 323 wins were the most in college football history. He passed away in 1983, and he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1986.
 

NFF Scholarships at Individual Universities

A number of strong supporters of the game of football and the lessons it teaches have gathered together to endow postgraduate scholarships at specific universities. The scholarships will be presented annually to the top student-athlete on that university or college's football team from the pool of players in their last year of eligibility.


NFF COACH BO SCHEMBECHLER SCHOLARSHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Endowed by Bo’s Players and Friends in 2014
 
One of the most influential coaches in college football history, Bo Schembechler’s legacy continues with a scholarship endowed in his name by a group of his former players and friends. After coaching Miami (Ohio) to two Mid-American Conference championships, Schembechler coached at Michigan from 1969-89. His combined record at the schools was 234-65-8, and when he retired, his victories were fifth best all-time among coaches of Division I-A teams. In 21 years at Michigan, he won 13 Big Ten championships and was in 17 bowls. Schembechler coached nine Hall of Famers and four NFF National Scholar-Athletes. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993, and he passed away in 2006 at the age of 77. The scholarship will be presented annually to the top student-athlete on the Wolverines football team from the pool of players in their last year of eligibility.


NFF SCHOLARSHIP AT HOUSTON CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
Endowed by the Cullen Trust for Higher Education, Houston Christian University and Corbin J. Robertson Jr. in 2015
 
The NFF scholarship at Houston Christian University will provide an important tool for the young program, which completed its first season in 2013. The scholarship will be presented annually to the top student-athlete on HCU's football team from the pool of players who are in their last year of eligibility. One of 50 programs to have launched football since 2011, the Huskies compete in the Southland Conference. Support for the scholarship is being led by Houston Christian University President Dr. Robert B. Sloan Jr. and the Cullen Trust for Higher Education.
 

NFF BILL YEOMAN SCHOLARSHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
Endowed by Ken & Carole Bailey, the Cullen Trust for Higher Education, the John M. O’Quinn Foundation, Carroll Robertson Ray, Corbin J. Robertson Jr., Lillie Robertson and W.E. Robertson in 2015
 
The scholarship at the University of Houston is named for College Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Yeoman, who coached the Cougars from 1962-86, building a young program into one of the best in the nation, including four Southwest Conference Championships and 11 bowl berths. He coached 46 All-Americans, including College Football Hall of Famer Wilson Whitley. The scholarship will be presented annually to the top student-athlete on the Cougars football team from the pool of players who are in their last year of eligibility.
 

NFF DARRELL K ROYAL SCHOLARSHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
Endowed by A.G. “Rusty” Allen III, David S. Ballew, Alan C. Baum, Marvin and Linda Bendele, Bud & Anne Brigham, the Cullen Trust for Higher Education, Susie & Don Evans, Chris Gilbert, The Lee and Joseph D. Jamail Foundation, Steve & Dee Dee Massey, Mike A. Myers, Benny C. Pace, Michael W. Perrin, Christine A. Plonsky, Barbara and Corbin J. Robertson Jr. and Charlie Talbert in 2015
 
The scholarship at the University of Texas is named for College Football Hall of Fame coach Darrell Royal, who coached the Longhorns from 1957-76, including three national championships, 11 Southwest Conference Championships and 16 bowl berths. Royal, who also had short stints at Mississippi State and Washington, finished with an overall career record of 184-60-5, and he coached 10 College Football Hall of Famers and six NFF National Scholar-Athletes. He also served as Texas athletics director from 1962-80, and he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1983. Royal passed away in 2012 at the age of 88. The scholarship will be presented annually to the top student-athlete on the Longhorns football team from the pool of players who are in their last year of eligibility.

 
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame has granted scholarships at the local and national level since 1959. It has utilized these marks and continues to do so.