Gridiron Club Announces 2011 New England College Football Award Recipients

Boston College’s Luke Kuechly and Dartmouth’s Nick Schwieger Take 73^rd Bulger Lowe Award; Yale’s Patrick Witt and Bentley’s Bryant Johnson Win 66^th Swede Nelson Award

BOSTON - December 26, 2011 – Gridiron Club of Greater Boston president Paul Stewart announced today that Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly (Cincinnati, OH) and Dartmouth College running back Nick Schwieger (Norton, MA) are recipients of the 73^rd annual George “Bulger” Lowe Award, “New England’s Heisman Trophy” and one of America’s oldest college football accolades.

The Bulger Lowe Award recognizes the New England’s best offensive and defensive players in the NCAA Bowl and Championship Divisions, formerly known as Divisions IA and IAA. Kuechly and Schwieger head an all-star slate of players, coaches and officials to be honored by club at its annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards Night on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The club also announced that the winners of the 66^th annual Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award for exceptional achievement in sportsmanship, academics, and athletics are Yale quarterback Patrick Witt (Atlanta, GA) in the Bowl/Championship Divisions and Bentley quarterback Bryant Johnson (Hopedale, MA) in Divisions II-III.

Other honors conferred that evening by the Gridiron Club will be:

The 16^th annual Joe Zabilski Award, which recognizes New England’s top players in Divisions II and III, to tailback Rashaad Slowley (Mount Vernon, NY) of Southern Connecticut and linebacker Walter Fallas (Everett, MA) of Trinity College.

Head Coach of the Year awards to Tim Murphy of Harvard in the Bowl/Championship Divisions and Tom Kelley of Framingham State University in Divisions II-III.

Assistant Coach of the Year awards to Joe Rossi, defensive coordinator at the University of Maine, in the Bowl/Championship Divisions and Lew Acquarulo, defensive coordinator at Trinity College, in Divisions II-III.

The Joseph V. McKenney Award for top collegiate football official to Edwin Shanahan (Peabody, MA) in the Colonial, Ivy, and Patriot Leagues..

The John Baronian Award for Lifetime Contribution to Football will be given to Tracy Mehr, whose 48 years in coaching football included the post of offensive coordinator at Amherst College from 1966 through 2001.

Awards Dinner information: Thursday, January 12, 2012 at Westin Waltham Hotel. Tickets are $50 each or $500 for a table of ten. Order them online at www.gridclubofgreaterboston.com, through members of the Gridiron Club, or by calling club secretary Dick Lawrence at (781) 231-0372. Social hour begins at 6:00 p.m., followed by dinner at 7:00.

About the Gridiron Club, “Keepers of the Flame”: Founded in 1932, the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston (www.gridclubofgreaterboston.com) promotes the game of football at all levels and nurtures the ideals of citizenship, sportsmanship, leadership, and athletic and academic achievement. Through its annual dinners and golf tournament, the club carries on its tradition of honoring exemplary players, coaches and officials at all levels of the sport, and supporting worthy charitable causes, especially those that assist children.

The Gridiron Club is steward of some of the most storied awards in American sport. The George H. “Bulger” Lowe Award, established in 1939 and awarded to New England’s best college football players, is the country’s oldest accolade of its kind after the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award. The Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award, inaugurated in 1946, recognizes football players who also distinguish themselves in the classroom. In 1977, the club assumed stewardship of the Walter Brown Award, the nation’s oldest college hockey honor, which is given to the best American-born college player in New England.