skip navigation

Sixth annual Honors Dinner carries quarterback theme

On an evening that featured a large dose of quarterbacks on the campus that is known as the "Cradle of Quarterbacks," a running back, center, wide receiver and coach walked off with all the hardware.

Griffin Richeson, a graduate of Lafayette Central Catholic High School, was named the Scholar Athlete of the Year by the National Football Foundation's Joe Tiller Chapter of Northwest Indiana during the chapter's fourth annual NFF Honors Dinner "Celebrating Our Legends IV" on June 13, 2008, at the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms in West Lafayette.

The top four quarterbacks in Purdue University passing history were among the crowd of 465, including Drew Brees, who set school and Big Ten records of 11,792 yards and 90 touchdowns during his prolific career from 1997 to 2000.

Also at the event were Mark Herrmann, who set the NCAA record at the time with 9,946 yards and 70 touchdowns (1977-80); Kyle Orton, who passed for 9,337 yards and 63 TDs (2001-04); and Curtis Painter, who had 11,501 yards and 67 touchdowns (2005-08).


Former Boilermaker center Nick Hardwick received the Drew Brees Mental Toughness Award after providing snaps for Orton (2003) at Purdue and Brees (2004-05) during their shared seasons with the San Diego Chargers. Former Purdue All-American receiver Bernie Flowers, who played briefly in the pros with the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Baltimore Colts before becoming a successful insurance salesman, received the chapter's Distinguished American Award. Former high school football coach and administrator Brad Smith was given the Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award.

The quarterback theme even extended to the high school level as nine of the 23 scholar athletes being honored played quarterback last fall. Even the lead singer, Levi Riggs, of The Overtones, the musical group that entertaining that evening, played quarterback in high school.

Richeson, who was a four-year starter in both football and baseball along with being a three-year starter in basketball as his teams each won four consecutive conference championships in those three sports, was valedictorian of his senior class. He rushed for 61 touchdowns and 4,399 yards on the gridiron while carrying a .400-plus career batting average on the diamond. He is headed to Butler University in the fall on a baseball scholarship and will study management. In addition to going home with the large Scholar Athlete of the Year Trophy, Richeson received gifts totaling more than $4,200, including the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation Scholarship to be used for college expenses next fall and the supplemental payments which were sent out following complete assessment of the silent auction and scholarship raising efforts.

Two other finalists for the award each received more than $2,900. They were Delphi Community High School's Shane Evans, who is going to Wabash College to study biology and chemistry, and Seeger Memorial High School's Joseph Haddock, who will study engineering at Purdue.

The other 20 scholar athletes, who were nominated by their schools from throughout the 15-county region, received more than $10,000 collectively, including a valuable certificates and gift cards for books and supplies from local bookstores. The 20 were: Zeb Bickett of Tri-County H.S. (headed for St. Joseph College), Kyle Butler of West Lafayette H.S. (on his way to the University of Alabama), Kyle Catron of Frankfort H.S. (soon to be at Franklin College), Matt DeGolyer of Lafayette McCutcheon H.S. (Manchester College), John Farrer of Pioneer H.S. (Purdue), Timmy Fogarty of Lafayette Jefferson H.S. (University of Dayton), Joe Grant of North Miami H.S. (Indiana University), Matthew Leighty of Clinton Central H.S. (Marian College), Rory Mannering of Lewis Cass H.S. (Hanover College), Samuel Mitchel of Peru H.S. (U.S. Air Force Academy), Cole Oliver of Twin Lakes H.S. (Franklin), Ryan O'Shea of Attica H.S. (Valparaiso University), Mike Pratt of Eastern H.S. (U.S. Naval Academy), Ian Reed of South Newton H.S. (Manchester), Kyle Rodibaugh of Rensselaer Central H.S. (Purdue), Heath Sommers of Caston H.S. (Purdue), Sam Starbuck of Logansport H.S. (Wabash College), Coty Wagner of Knox Community H.S. (Indiana University-South Bend), Eli Whaley of Benton Central H.S. (Indiana Wesleyan University), and Paul Yerkes of Carroll H.S. (Ivy Tech).

Brees, the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, signed autographs and posed for pictures along with Herrmann, an 11-year NFL quarterback in the 1980s and early '90s, Orton, a four year pro currently with the Denver Broncos, and 2009 graduate Painter.

Brees, who was also in West Lafayette for his Brees Dream Foundation Golf Outing the following day to raise $50,000 of support for the PALS (Purdue Athletes Life Success) Program, presented the chapter's Mental Toughness Award to Hardwick, who never played high school football and came to Purdue as a regular student before walking on to the football team in 2001 and becoming a star by 2003.

Flowers received the chapter's Distinguished American Award in recognition of his military service, his family values, his successful career, loyalty to his country and alma mater, and his tireless efforts of membership-raising and fund-raising for the NFF chapter.

Smith, the former Crown Point, Highland and Attica high school football coach who now assists WLFI-TV with its coverage of prep football during the fall, received the chapter's Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award. He was recognized for his long career as a football coach, athletic director and teacher in the region and his past presidency of the Indiana Football Coaches Association.