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The Sports Network Announces Three Finalists for the Walter Payton 19th Annual Division I-AA Football Award
HATBORO, Pa., Nov. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sports Network, the nation's premier real-time sports wire service, whose Internet website, http://www.sportsnetwork.com/, is one of the most viewed sports sites in the world, has announced the finalists for the 19th Annual Walter Payton Award for the outstanding player in Division I-AA collegiate football, as well as the finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award for the outstanding defensive player in the division and the Eddie Robinson Award, named for the legendary coach, to the division coach whose achievements for the past season have been noted and voted upon as exemplary by the media and other coaches in the division.
The winners of the 19th Annual I-AA College Football Awards will be announced at the official awards presentation to be held at the Sheraton Read House in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Thursday, December 15, on the eve of the Division I-AA national championship game, also to be held in Chattanooga.
Brown running back Nick Hartigan, Eastern Washington quarterback Erik Meyer and New Hampshire quarterback Ricky Santos have been selected as the top three finalists for the 2005 Walter Payton Award, which will be presented at the 19th Annual I-AA College Football Awards in Chattanooga, TN, on Dec. 15th. More than 110 ballots were cast for the Payton, which goes to I-AA's top player. The voting breakdown for the awards will not be revealed until that time.
Hartigan, a senior from Fairfax Station, VA, led all I-AA players with 1,727 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns to lift Brown to a 9-1 record and its first-ever outright Ivy League championship. Hartigan earned the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Player of the Year for his efforts. His 1,727 yards marked the second-best single-season total in conference history, and his 4,492 career rushing yards are third in the Ivy record books.
Meyer, a senior from La Mirada, CA, threw for 3,616 yards and 26 touchdowns during the regular season for the 7-5 Eagles, who finished with a share of the Big Sky Conference title and earned the league's automatic berth to the postseason. Meyer was named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year for his efforts. Meyer and the Eagles lost to Northern Iowa, 41-38, in the first round of the I-AA playoffs on Saturday.
Santos, a sophomore from Bellingham, MA, passed for 3,200 yards and 33 touchdowns during New Hampshire's 10-1 regular season. He also ran for seven scores, and helped New Hampshire to the No. 1 ranking in the final Sports Network Top 25 and the No. 1 seed in the I-AA playoffs. Santos was named the Atlantic 10 Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He led the Wildcats to victory against Colgate in the first round of the playoffs, and New Hampshire will host Northern Iowa in a quarterfinal game on Saturday.
The 2004 Walter Payton Award went to William & Mary quarterback Lang Campbell. Former winners Tony Romo (2002, Eastern Illinois, Dallas Cowboys), Brian Westbrook (2001, Villanova, Philadelphia Eagles), Adrian Peterson (1999, Georgia Southern, Chicago Bears), Jerry Azumah (1998, New Hampshire, Chicago Bears), Brian Finneran (1997, Villanova, Atlanta Falcons), and Steve McNair (1994, Alcorn State, Tennessee Titans) are among those serving in the NFL.
Voting, which is based on regular season performance only, was conducted among 113 media members and media relations professionals covering I-AA. The top three finalists (in terms of votes received) for the Walter Payton Award are annually invited to attend the presentation of the Awards, with the winner of the Payton not announced until the event.
This year's Buck Buchanan Award finalists are: Maurice Bennett, LB, Lafayette; Antoine Bullock, DE, Duquesne; Jeff Charleston, DE, Idaho State; Zak DeOssie, LB, Brown; Reed Doughty, S, Northern Colorado; Justin Durant, LB, Hampton; Brady Fosmark, DE, Weber State; William Freeman, LB, Furman; Chris Gocong, DE, Cal Poly; Brent Hawkins, DE, Illinois State; Brian Hulea, LB, Villanova; Shannon James, S, Massachusetts; Jay McCareins, DB, Princeton; Marques Murrell, DE, Appalachian State; Chad Nkang, LB, Elon; and Cameron Siskowic, LB, Illinois State.
The Eddie Robinson Award finalists are: David Bailiff, Texas State; Dick Biddle, Colgate; Dave Clawson, Richmond; Rich Ellerson, Cal Poly; Phil Estes, Brown; Mark Farley, Northern Iowa; Matt Griffin, Tennessee-Martin; Jim Harbaugh, San Diego; Jon Heacock, Youngstown State; Ron McBride, Weber State; Sean McDonnell, New Hampshire; Jerry Moore, Appalachian State; Melvin Spears, Grambling State; Bob Spoo, Eastern Illinois; Joe Taylor, Hampton; and Jay Thomas, Nicholls State.
The Sports Network established the Walter Payton Player of the Year Award in 1987, and it is presented annually to the most outstanding college football player on the Division I-AA level. When the award was established, it was the only such award to be presented to an individual player in I-AA football. It has since been joined by the Buck Buchanan Award, which was established in 1995.
Payton, who played his college ball for Jackson State, set the NCAA record for points scored in a career with 464. He scored 66 touchdowns for the Tigers, while rushing for 3,563 yards. Payton also kicked five field goals and 53 PATs. In his four-year career at JSU, he set nine school records, six of which still stand today.
However, Payton's collegiate accomplishments pale in comparison to the numbers he posted in his professional career. When he retired, Payton was the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards, and is still the Chicago Bears all-time leading scorer with 750 points. Upon his retirement, Payton was the holder of eight NFL records and 28 Bears records. In 1977, at the age of 23, Payton became the youngest player to be voted NFL MVP. He added a second league MVP award following the 1985 season. During his 13-year NFL career, Payton was named to the Pro Bowl nine times. He was also named a member of the NFL's prestigious 75th Anniversary Team.
As active as he was on the field, Payton was equally active in charity work off the field. He was honorary chairman for the 1983 Heart Association Jump Rope for Health, and for the Illinois Mental Health Association from 1978 through 1980. Payton was also involved with the Boy Scouts, March of Dimes, Brian Piccolo Research Fund, United Way and the Peace Corps.
The Sports Network CEO Mickey Charles stated, "There are more bowl games today than one can name and, over the years, probably as many awards as there are players. But, the Walter Payton, followed closely by the Buchanan and Robinson, have lent deserved respect and credibility to the legions of athletes and coaches of Division I-AA that have excelled on, and off, the playing field and we are very proud to have contributed to the recognition justifiably accorded them."
About The Sports Network
The Sports Network is the nation's foremost international real-time sports wire service furnishing a plethora of content on a 24/7 basis using state-of- the-art technology. TSN's website, sportsnetwork.com, contains voluminous proprietary sports news data that includes, but is not limited to, scores, trends, analysis, news, features, statistics, pre- and post-game reports, box scores, historical data, and very much more. Among its clients are AT&T, Reuters, Viacom Television Station Group, Tribune Interactive, Knight-Ridder Digital, Lexis*Nexis, Westwood One, Dallas Morning News, New York Times, Boston Globe, New York Daily News, Houston Chronicle, Denver Post, L.A. Times, Detroit News, Clear Channel Network, Learfield Communications, Media News, Metro Source, Comtex and hundreds more. http://www.sportsnetwork.com/ is one of the most accessed web sites on the Internet and TSN currently brands sports pages for sites numbering in excess of 500 while furnishing satellite-transmitted data and online transmission to a host of organizations domestically and internationally.
The Sports Network
CONTACT: Maureen McGillian-Galeone, TSN, +1-215-441-8444,maureen@sportsnetwork.com
Web site: http://www.sportsnetwork.com/
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