Joe Tiller NFF Chapter

After flirting with Super Bowl Champion Quarterbacks and the Cradle of Astronauts the previous two years, the National Football Foundation's Joe Tiller Chapter of Northwest Indiana focused on Hall of Fame inductions in 2012.

 Three highly-accomplished individuals -- football coaches Frank O'Shea from the high school ranks and Joe Tiller from the collegiate ranks along with Big Ten football official Tom Ransom -- were inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame as the highlight of the NFF Honors Dinner "Celebrating Our Legends VIII" on June 21 before a crowd of 520 at the Purdue Memorial Union in West Lafayette.

 In addition, Otis Armstrong, Purdue's Consensus All-America halfback of 1972, was on hand to be recognized for his upcoming induction into the College Football Hall of Fame next December.

 Tiller, the founder of the Northwest Indiana NFF chapter and now a resident of Buffalo, Wyo., was inducted as the all-time victory leader in the history of Purdue football.
 

O'Shea was recognized as a long-time and highly-successful high school coach who is currently serving as an assistant to his son Kevin O'Shea, the head coach of the three-time defending state champion Knights of Lafayette Central Catholic.

Ransom, who is chairman of the board of Kramer Lumber Company in Frankfort, was honored for being a football official since 1965, including 30 years with the Big Ten Conference (21 years on the field, seven in the replay booth and two years as an observer).

 Also, Arnette Tiller, Joe's wife, received the Indiana Football Coaches Association's Service to Football Award.

The NFF's announcement about Armstrong came in May, marking the third time in six years – and just the ninth time ever -- that a Boilermaker player has been chosen for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Armstrong still lives in Denver where he concluded his NFL career in 1980.

 Always a highlight of the NFF Honors Dinner is the announcement of the winner of the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. Last winter, 22 high school seniors were nominated by their schools and honored at sthe NFF's Scholar-Athlete Banquet in Merrillville on May 6 when six finalists for the top award were announced. This year's winner of the big trophy and more than $3,000 toward his tuition and books is Dayton Snyder of West Lafayette. The other five finalists were Cameron Colby of Kokomo, Austin Magley of Lowell, Dylan Morang of Lake Central, Travis Smith of Lafayette Central Catholic and Mason Zurek of Andrean.

Among the six chapter awards this year, four were presented at the June 21 dinner. Long-time Purdue athletic trainer Denny Miller was honored with the Legends Award, Lafayette Central Catholic High School star Danny Anthrop was the first winner of the chapter's Courage Award for helping save the life of his uncle in 2011 and Chris and Clay Oppy of Lafayette received the Bernie Flowers Award for Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football for their efforts with Dream Season, a program that works with people of special needs.

Two other chapter awards were presented in Merrillville in May. At that event, Purdue basketball star Robbie Hummel became the first-ever non-football player to receive the Drew Brees Mental Toughness Award and Kurt Lichtenberg of the Boilermaker football team received the Citizenship Award for his mission work locally as well as in Haiti and South Africa.

 Music for this year's Honors Dinner was provided by one of Joe Tiller's former players at Purdue, Craig Terrill, a seven-year veteran defensive lineman with the Seattle Seahawks following his four years (1999-2003) with the Boilermakers. He now sings professionally with the Craig Terrill Band and wanted to help honor his head coach with a mini-concert between the evening's Silent Auction Reception and the Honors Dinner.

 The program also included comments from Purdue head football coach Danny Hope, former Boilermaker great Ryan Kerrigan, now with the Washington Redskins, former Purdue defensive coordinator Brock Spack, now the head football coach at Illinois State University, and his wife Aimee.
               
 "A main purpose of the Honors Dinner each year is to recognize our area's high school scholar-athletes and to announce the recipient of our chapter's Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award," says chapter president Bart Burrell. "The award is based on academics (40%) and athletics (40%) along with community service, leadership and citizenship (20%). We feel we had excellent nominees again this year and we are pleased that we can provide them with some financial assistance for college."

 This year's NFF scholar-athletes are from 22 different schools in the18-county area (Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Fountain, Fulton, Howard, Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Miami, Newton, Porter, Pulaski, Starke, Tippecanoe, Warren and White) that stretches from Lafayette and Kokomo to Michigan City and Gary. All 22 students are headed to college this fall. Academically, seven of them were ranked in the top five percent of their graduating classes and two were No. 1 in their class.

 Besides the six finalists named above, the NFF scholarship nominees also included: Trent Bauters (Tippecanoe Valley), Jordan Culp (West Central), Ramon Diaz (River Forest), Brian Dick (Maconaquah), Ty Fischbach (Benton Central), A.J. Gaeta (McCutcheon), Reggie Henderson (Lafayette Jefferson), Roderick Jones II (Gary West Side), Vaughn Lubarski (Calumet New Tech), Tanner Martin (Northwestern), Silas Maxwell (Frontier), Logan McRae (Crown Point), Eli Moore (Fountain Central), Alex Reinsma (Munster), Gregory Thome II (Valparaiso) and Brandon Wines (Clinton Prairie).

 In addition to the 22 scholar-athletes, 28 prep stars were invited to the dinner to be introduced as Region 4 All-Stars. Those who attended were Anthrop (Lafayette Central Catholic), Culp (West Central), Adam Folta (West Lafayette), Kevin Hogan (Culver Community), Trevor Hoover (Caston), Andrew Mitchell (Fountain Central), Brody Quick (Clinton Central), Snyder (West Lafayette) and Luke Welsh (South Newton) along with manager Marianne Oliver (Twin Lakes).

 As a non-profit organization, the NFF's Northwest Indiana Chapter has awarded more than $145,000 in grants, scholarships and honorariums since receiving its charter in the fall of 2004. In addition to seeking donations and sponsorships (which are tax-deducible) to support the scholarship program, the chapter also receives money ($500 for every 50 dues-paying members in the local chapter) from the national office in Irving, Tex. In its first eight years, this chapter has recognized 144 scholar athletes and awarded them between $250 and $5,000 each.

The tax-deductible membership costs $40 per year or $99 for three years, payable to the National Football Foundation. The NFF has 121 chapters and more than 12,000 members, nationally, and awards approximately $1.3 million in scholarships each year.