Joe Tiller NFF Chapter

One of the highlights of the 2007 Honors Dinner was announcement that The Northwest Indiana Chapter changed its name to honor the man who inspired its creation three years earlier. The chapter now carries the name "Joe Tiller Chapter of Northwest Indiana," recognizing the efforts of Purdue University's head football coach, who later retired after this his 12th year at the helm.

"The success of this chapter is a direct response to the respect our Purdue supporters have for Coach Tiller," said Tom Schott, Purdue's assistant athletics director for communications and the member of the chapter's board of directors who proposed the naming idea.

"Joe has been a long-time proponent of the NFF, having helped to start a chapter in Wyoming before coming to Purdue," said Schott. "This chapter will be one of the many legacies Joe Tiller leaves for area football fans. Our board wants to ensure that future generations of scholarship recipients, award winners and members know who got all of this started."

Tiller won better than 58 percent of his games as head coach at Purdue. He retired after his 12th season in West Lafayette, with a record of 87-62 surpassing Jack Mollenkopf's record for football wins by a head coach at Purdue. Including six years at Wyoming, Tiller's overall record was 126-92-1.

Also during the 2007 Honors Dinner, former Boilermaker football greats Drew Brees, now the All-Pro quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, and Rosevelt Colvin, then a linebacker with the New England Patriots, were among the crowd of nearly 500 and also received special awards.

The top award of the evening, however, went to James Wodicka, a recent graduate of West Lafayette High School, who was named the chapter's Scholar Athlete of the Year. Wodicka, the valedictorian of his senior class with plans of studying engineering and playing football at Case Western Reserve University, received a total of $4,050 in scholarship assistance from the NFF chapter.

Two other finalists received $2,550 each. They are J.D. McClintic from Twin Lakes H.S. and Cody Bearden from McCutcheon H.S. McClintic will study chemistry and biology as a pre-med student at Wabash College while Bearden will attend Butler University, also as a pre-med student.

Thirteen additional scholar athletes received a total of $7,950, lifting the chapter's scholarship distribution totals for 2007 to $17,100. Those 13 athletes were Josh Anker from Harrison H.S. (will attend Purdue University), Austin Beach from Pioneer H.S. (headed for University of Indianapolis), Jeff Brummett from Frontier H.S. (going to Ball State University), Jacob Denhart from Covington H.S. (Purdue-bound), Tim Edmonds from Clinton Central H.S. (on his way to Manchester College), Devin Edwards from Knox H.S. (going to Purdue North Central), Josh Fossnock from Clinton Prairie H.S. (enrolling at Wabash), Zach Griffith from Logansport H.S. (attending Olivet Nazarene University), Coy Pennington from Delphi H.S. (Manchester-bound), Mark Powers from Frankfort H.S. (heading for U. of Indianapolis), Justin Schwab from Tri-County H.S. (a future Boilermaker), Garrett Segraves from Lewis Cass H.S. (matriculating at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne), and P.J. Tyson from Lafayette Jefferson H.S. (also going to Wabash).

Also being honored were Dr. Robert Hagen, who received the Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award for his service to area high schools and their athletes, and retiring Purdue President Dr. Martin Jischke, who was presented the chapter's Gold Medallion, an award given on rare occasions to recognize the career of highly successful people in the region.

Meanwhile, the Distinguished American Award was presented to Henry Rosenthal, who was involved in promoting sports as a play-by-play announcer and radio station owner while living all 88 years of his life (other than the years he spent serving America during World War II) in Lafayette.

Brees received the Honorary Hoosier Award, presented by State Representative Shiela Klinker on behalf of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, while Colvin received the Mental Toughness Award, presented by Brees, who won the same award two years ago and has attended each of the first three Honors Dinners.