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At the 2017 Honors Dinner, Jack DeGroot of Winamac High School was honored as the chapter’s Scholar-Athletes of the Year before a crowd of 300 football enthusiasts.
DeGroot, who is now a Butler student, was chosen from an initial group of 14 high school football standouts, that was narrowed down to six finalists by our panel of judges. The scholar-athletes had been nominated by their coaches. Judging was based 40 percent on academics, 40 percent on athletics and 20 percent on citizenship, leadership and character.
Besides DeGroot, the 2017 scholar-athletes’ names and high schools were: Jonathan Cieslak (Munster), Jacob Clouser (Delphi Community),
Patrick Davis (North Newton), Trenton Howard (Caston), Austin Lawrence (Winchester Community), Matt Marley (West Lafayette), Jacob Page (Lafayette Central Catholic), Ross Pearson (Rochester), Jake Quasebarth (North White), John Ragan (Eastbrook), Dylan Spesard (Carroll), Adam Sturgeon (Harrison) and Kellen Woods (Tipton).
Those 14 scholar-athletes were all high school seniors who are in college now. Academically, it was an outstanding group. Eight of the 14 had 4.0 grade point averages or better, 11 were ranked among the
top 10 percent in their senior classes and four were valedictorians at their schools. Their collective grade point average was 3.94.
JACK’S CREDENTIALS
DeGroot’s credentials were impressive. He graduated first in his class with a GPA of 11.271 on a 12.0 scale and is now studying pre-med at Butler. Jack exceled as a three-sport standout and captain for Winamac in baseball, basketball and football. He received 12 varsity letters and multiple Academic All-Conference and Athletic All-Conference honors
in all three sports, in addition to team MVP awards in all three sports.
The Honors Dinner crowd also paid tribute to the high school players and managers chosen from Regions 1 and 4 to compete on the North Squad in the annual North-South All-Star Game last summer
in Indianapolis. Six were present and introduced on stage.
Jeff Brohm, Purdue’s new head football coach, and Mary Tremaine, the reigning Miss Purdue, were also part of the event as was vocal standout Karli Spesard, a recent Purdue graduate from nearby Delphi, who performed for the fifth straight NFF Honors Dinner.
INDIANA FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
But, the highlight of the event, in conjunction with the Indiana Football Coaches Association, was the Indiana Hall of Fame Inductions of high schools coaching legends Vince Burpo and Jim Davis, along with former Purdue stars Bernie Flowers and Rod Woodson. Former Purdue All-America running back Otis Armstrong was scheduled to receive the plaque for his 2015 induction at the same event, but was unable to attend due to illness.
Burpo coached three different high schools in our area (Frontier, Frankfort and Delphi) between 1985 and 2008, posting a combined record of 112-83 in 18 seasons as head coach. He was also an assistant coach for seven years. Burpo graduated in 1977 from
Martinsville High School and 1982 from Franklin College before earning a master’s degree from Indiana University in 1989. During his career, his teams won six conference championships, five sectional titles and two regionals. Vince coached six Indiana All-Stars and served on the coaching staff of the Indiana North-South Shrine Bowl in 1989. He held
several positions in the IFCA, including four years as regional director. He has retired from coaching but still teaches at Delphi.
Davis compiled a 43-year coaching record of 212- 198, mostly at North White High School since 1979 after getting his start at Northern Wells. Highlights of his career were winning the state championship in 1994 and finishing runner-up in 1998. Davis graduated from Payne High School in 1971 and played at Manchester College where he graduated in 1975, before earning a master degree at St. Francis College prior to his move to North White. Jim was named Midwest Conference Coach of the Year six times and has been active in the IFCA as a class coordinator for many years. He is retired from coaching and teaching
but remains a loyal Viking supporter.
FLOWERS
Flowers, a 1953 Purdue grad, was inducted posthumously, with his son Kerry Flowers receiving the award. Bernie is one of the all-time great Boilermaker receivers, having caught 82 passes for 1,015 yards and eight touchdowns in an era when passing the ball was not nearly as common as it is today. Bernie was a Consensus All-American in 1952 and was drafted by the Baltimore Colts. He returned to the Lafayette area in the early 1960’s and had a very successful career in insurance while raising four children with his wife Adella. Bernie was inducted into
the Purdue Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. He was a long-time member of the John Purdue Club and an integral part of the formation and development of the NFF’s Joe Tiller Chapter.
Woodson
Following a stellar high school career at Fort Wayne Snider where he was a two-time USA Today Prep All-American, two-time Indiana All-State choice and the 1982 Indiana Mr. Football, Woodson became a four-year starter, three-year first-team All- Big Ten star and Consensus All-American at Purdue, playing 1983-86. He went on to become one of the greatest defensive backs in NFL history, playing 17 years with Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Baltimore and Oakland. He played in the Super Bowl with three different teams, was named to 11 Pro Bowls and was picked for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, followed by the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016. Like Flowers, he went into Purdue’s Hall of Fame in 2003. He is now an assistant coach for the
Oakland Raiders.
The Tiller Chapter will try to recognize Armstrong at a future event. The record-setting back for Purdue in the early 1970’s now lives in Centennial, Colo., near Denver where he played professionally for the
Broncos. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
CHAPTER AWARDS
Prior to the Hall of Fame presentations, the Honors Dinner program recognized several other awards, including:
• Gold Medallion Award – Morgan Burke
• Bernie Flowers Award for Outstanding Contribution
to Football – Darren Hicks
• “He Played Football” Award – Mike Berghoff
• Legends Award – Roy Johnson
• Mackey Courage Award – Riley Lowder
• Drew Brees Mental Toughness Award (chosen but not presented) – Roosevelt Barnes & Caleb Swanigan
Burke, who retired in June after 24 years as Purdue’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Vice President, received the chapter’s Gold Medallion Award.
Hicks, a 25-year coach and director in the Lafayette Central Catholic Little Gridiron Program received the award that was created to recognize outstanding contributions to amateur football and appropriately named in honor of Bernie Flowers.
Berghoff, a former walk-on player at Purdue, is now Chairman of Purdue Board of Trustees, who received the “He Played Football” Award.
Johnson was recognized with the Legends Award after his 43
years as the “Voice of the Band” at Purdue.
Lowder was honored for exhibited outstanding courage in
overcoming his physical difficulties as a child and teenager to become a football player at Delphi High School.
Another award that was determined but not presented last spring was the Drew Brees Award for Mental Toughness. Barnes, a former Boilermaker football and basketball player, adopted Swanigan and
helped him overcome a difficult personal situation six years ago to become Big Ten Player of the Year in basketball last season, leading Purdue to an outright conference championship. They were unable to attend last June’s event due to NBA tryout for Caleb, but our intentions are to present the award at the 2018 Honors Dinner.
