Awards
Southwestern Ohio “That’s Our Boy” Award
The Southwestern Ohio “That’s Our Boy” Award is named after Joe Quinn, former sports writer at the Cincinnati Post. Joe retired in October, 1976, after working in the sports department of the Post for 41 years. He was the first to pick a High School All-Star Team, the first to write a column about high school sports, and the first to write about the high school scene on a daily basis.Joe Quinn organized the first meeting of high school coaches in Southwest Ohio; that meeting was the beginning of the Southwestern Ohio Football Coaches Association. As he recalled, “I thought it was a shame the way some people bickered and fought with each other; and if we could get together socially, it might develop some friendliness around the schools.” The first meeting was in the basement of the home of Fred Yeager, the coach at Central Vocational. There were eight coaches present. S.W.O.F.C.A. has grown to be the largest local football coaches’ organization in the state of Ohio. Joe passed away in 1980. We are pleased to honor Joe Quinn by naming the Southwestern Ohio Award: “The Joe Quinn That’s Our Boy Award.”
Northern Kentucky “That’s My Boy” Award
he Northern Kentucky “That’s My Boy” Award is named for Brian P. Williams, a former winner of the award, who died in New York in the World Trade Center on September, 11, 2001. He was 30 years old. Brian was a three sport star and a star in the classroom at Covington Catholic High School. He had an accumulative grade point average of 4.0 and was a three year varsity letterman in football on two state championship teams. Brian was team captain his senior year and was also First Team All-State as a tight end. He was a two-time silver medalist in the discus throw at the Kentucky State Championships and was also a First Team All Conference Basketball player in Northern Kentucky.
Brian continued his football career at Columbia University in New York City where he was a starter at tight end for four years. After graduation Brian began working as a bond trader at Canton-Fitzgerald whose offices were on the
top floors of The World Trade Center. We are pleased to honor Brian Williams by naming the Northern Kentucky Award: “The Brian Williams That’s My Boy Award.”
Past Winners
1962 Tom Kiehfuss - Purcell Ohio State
1963 Paul Erickson - Colerain Cornell
1964 Tom Rhoads - St. Xavier Notre Dame
1965 Gene Otting - Elder Xavier
1966 Dennis Fox - Oak Hills Purdue
1967 Steve Hopping - Sycamore Brown
1968 John Raterman - Elder Notre Dame
1969 Ron Dieckman - Western Hills Harvard
1970 Steve Imhoff - Sycamore Miami
1971 Mark Morelli - Roger Bacon Butler
1972 Doug Crum - Lockland Purdue
1973 Steve Grote - Elder Michigan
1974 John Tuke - St. Xavier Harvard
1975 Scott Schroer - Mariemont Vanderbilt
1976 Tom Berger - Wyoming Eastern Ky.
1977 Tim Koegel - Moeller Notre Dame
1978 Kevin Bates - Wyoming Stanford
1979 Sam Ach - Wyoming Amherst
Jeff Dennis - Wyoming Kentucky
1980 Eric Humpert - Forest Park Ball State
1981 Eric Kattus - Colerain Michigan
1982 Paul Rolfes - Oak Hills Cincinnati
1983 Jim Heiser - Mariemont Duke
1984 Pete Mather - Sycamore Miami
1985 Todd Smith - Goshen U.S. Naval Academy
1986 Sean Apke - Lockland Ohio Northern
1987 Rodney Vincent - Cin. Country Day Brown
1988 Mike Healy - St. Xavier Vanderbilt
1989 Nick Smith - Forest Park Notre Dame
1990 Chris Allen - New Miami Miami
1991 Justin Clark - Williamsburg Ohio State
1992 Craig Wilmhoff -Beechwood Eastern KY
Matt Hirsch - Colerain Cincinnati
1993 Chad Cogswell - Covington Cath. Northern KY
Marc Edwards - Norwood Notre Dame
Scott Sollmann - St. Xavier Notre Dame
1994 Ryan Murphy - LaSalle Illinois
Rob Sandfoss - Newport Cent. Cath. KY Wesleyan
Trevor Speeg - Williamsburg Cincinnati
1995 Jeremy Burns - Campbell County Valparaiso
Ahmed Plummer - Wyoming Ohio State
1996 Cameron Demmerle - Beechwood Centre
Seneca Gray - Holmes Kentucky State
Jefferson Kelley - Colerain Ohio State
1997 Ed Eviston - Newport Central Catholic Georgetown
Danny Jones - Goshen Wilmington
1998 Scott Kuhnhein - Highlands Ohio State
Dan Startsman - Mariemont Brown
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1999 Tom Beechem - Covington Catholic Dayton
Austin King - Purcell-Marian Northwestern
2000 Matt Atkins - Newport Thomas More
Steve Sollmann - St. Xavier Notre Dame
2001 Brent Grover - Highlands Purdue
Andrew Willis - Cincinnati Country Day Colgate
2002 Mike Hurley - St. Xavier Yale
Rob Smith - Highlands Tennessee
2003 Brandent Englemon - Holmes Michigan
Brad Maurer - Kings Lafayette
2004 Jeff Wera - Beechwood William and Mary
Josh Kuempel - Mariemont Stanford
2005 Brayden Coombs - Colerain Miami
Trevor Stellman - Conner Thomas More
2006 Mike Scherpenberg - Indian Hill Grand Valley State
Lance Durbin - Conner Cincinnati
2007 Doug Browne - CHCA Vanderbilt
Scott Gray - Ryle Marshall
Matt Frankey - Hamilton-Badin Cincinnati
2008 Fred Craig - St. Xavier Stanford
Cory Farris - Boone County Kentucky
2009 Drake Browne - CHCA Furman
Patrick Van Sant - Covington Catholic Georgetown
2010 Tate Nichols - Ryle Notre Dame
Andrew Perkins - CHCA Ohio State
2011 Jarrett Grace - Colerain Notre Dame
Troy Timmerman - Covington Catholic Air Force
2012 Joe Burger - LaSalle Ohio State
Patrick Towles - Highlands Kentucky
2013 Donovan McCoy - Highlands Kentucky
Dylan Wiesman - Colerain Tennessee
2014 Jon Bezney - Mariemont Yale
Sam Burchell - Covington Catholic Cincinnati
Andrew Way - Conner Dayton
2015 Simeon Lane - St. Xavier Princeton
Ryan Woolf - Ryle Georgetown
2016 Johnny Noyen - CHCA Dayton
Brett Slusher - Beechwood Morehead State
2017 Nicholas Noyen - CHCA Air Force Academy
Hunter Ziegelmeyer - Cov. Cath, Dartmouth
2018 Connor Pohl - Cincinnati Country Day Miami (FL)
Jake Chislom - Ryle Dayton
2019 CaEyre Hall - Withrow Ohio Dominican
Jack Coldiron - Cov. Catholic Miami
2020 Michael Mayer – Cov. Catholic Notre Dame
Alex DeLong - Cincinnati
2021 Zach Branam – LaSalle High School- Navy
Ben Dickhaus University of Cincinnati
2022 Carter Bibler - Summit Country Day - Alabama
Gabe Savage - Ryle High School - West Point
2023 Nick Hoying - Kings High School - Bucknell
Aiden Jones - Cov. Catholic - West Point
2024 Brody Berg - Anderson
Evan Pitzer - Cov. Catholic
Tom Potter Memorial Award of Courage
On occasions when the chapter feels it is worthy, we honor an individual who participates in the great game of football with our Tom Potter Memorial Award of Courage. This award is presented to a person who has overcome great obstacles in his life.
The award is appropriately named the Tom Potter Memorial Award of Courage. Our fellow board member and dear friend, Tom, lived each day of his life with a great deal of courage while possessing an overwhelming devotion and commitment to young people. He truly represented the mission and beliefs of the Greater Cincinnati Chapter of the National Football Foundation.
Past Winners
1992 - Mike Pearl, Wyoming High School
1994 - Scott Wiggins, Newport Central Catholic High School
1995 - James Adams, Covington Catholic High School
1997 - Tim Alexander, Dixie Heights High School
1998 - Ben Kelhoffer, LaSalle High School
1999 - Mark Kayes, Winton Woods High School
2000 - George Lewis, Wyoming High School
2002 - Matt Baker, Roger Bacon High School
2003 - Trenton Elliott, Lakota East High School
2004 - Tom Potter (posthumously)
2007 - Ben Johnston, Middletown High School
2008 - Bruce Ernest, Kings High School
2009 - Francisco Michels, Holy Cross High School
2010 - Cory Hardin, College of Mount St. Joseph
2011 - Zach Gelter, New Richmond High School
2012 - Shawn Roberts, Newport High School
2013 - Sam Becker, McNicholas High School
2014 - Dylan Barnett, LaSalle High School
2015 - Ryan Davis, Cincinnati Country Day
2016 - Tanner Dole, Harrison High School
2017 - Noah Kennedy, Colerain High School
2018 - Ryan Brewster, Clark Montessori
2019 - Hunter Fletcher, Little Miami
2019 - Warren Klusmeyer, CHCA
2020 - Tyler Dakin, Waynesville High School
2022 - Will Edwards, Winton Woods High School
2023 - Kaleb Shearer, Mt. Healthy High School
2024 - Luke Halsey, Edgewood High School
Contribution to Amateur Football
Distinguished American Award
