Bill Curry, Executive Director of Leadership at The Baylor School, has been selected as the 2007 recipient of the American Football Coaches Association Amos Alonzo Stagg Award.
The award is presented annually by the AFCA to the “individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football.’’
The award is named in honor of Amos Alonzo Stagg, who was instrumental in founding the AFCA in the 1920s.
Curry, a former head football coach at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky, will receive the honor at the AFCA Awards Luncheon on Jan. 10 during the 2007 AFCA Convention in San Antonio.
“I’m overwhelmed by this,” Curry said. “It’s such an incredible honor that I can’t express how I feel. I’m very appreciative of the AFCA Board of Trustees and grateful to Grant Teaff for what he’s done for our organization and the difference he made in my career.
"I’m naturally grateful to all my players, my assistant coaches and, most of all, Carolyn and our family for all of their support through the years. This is the highest honor I’ve ever been accorded.”
Curry spent 17 years as a head coach in the college ranks: seven years at his alma mater, Georgia Tech; three years at Alabama; and seven years at Kentucky.
Leadership Baylor is an inclusive leadership curriculum that reaches out to all students at The Baylor School to help them discover and develop their emerging leadership skills.
From 1967 to ‘72 Curry played for Don Shula and Don McCafferty in Baltimore. The 1968 team played in Super Bowl III and the 1970 squad won Super Bowl V. Curry went on to play one season each for the Houston Oilers and Los Angeles Rams. He was a two-time All-Pro (1971-72) and played in the 1971 and 1972 Pro Bowls.
Since 1997 Curry has worked as a college football analyst for ESPN and has been a contributing writer to ESPN.com, covering topics ranging from ethics in sports to Title IX.
Previous Stagg Award Winners
1940 Donald Herring, Jr., (Princeton player) and family
1941 William H. Cowell (posthumously), New Hampshire
1946 Grantland Rice, sportswriter
1947 William A. Alexander, Georgia Tech
1948 Gilmour Dobie, N.Dakota State, Washington, Navy, Cornell, Boston
College; Glenn S. "Pop" Warner, Georgia, Cornell, Carlisle, Pittsburgh,
Stanford, Temple & Robert C. Zuppke, Illinois
1949 Richard C. Harlow, Penn State, Colgate, Western Maryland, Harvard
1950 No award given
1951 DeOrmond "Tuss" McLaughry, Westminster, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth
1952 A.N. "Bo" McMillin, Indiana
1953 Lou Little, Georgetown, Columbia
1954 Dana X. Bible, Mississippi College, LSU, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas
1955 Joseph J. Tomlin, founder, Pop Warner Football
1956 No award given
1957 Gen. Robert R. Neyland, Tennessee
1958 Bernie Bierman, Mississippi A&M, Tulane, Minnesota
1959 Dr. John W. Wilce, Ohio State
1960 Harvey J. Harman, Haverford, University of the South, Pennsylvania,
Rutgers
1961 Ray Eliot, Illinois
1962 E.E. "Tad" Wieman, Michigan, Princeton, Maine
1963 Andrew Kerr, Stanford, Washington & Jefferson, Colgate, Lebanon
Valley
1964 Don Faurot, Missouri
1965 Harry Stuhldreher, Wisconsin
1966 Bernie H. Moore, LSU
1967 Jess Neely, Southwestern, Clemson, Rice
1968 Abe Martin, TCU
1969 Charles A. "Rip" Engle, Brown, Penn State
1970 Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf, Syracuse, Oklahoma City, Kansas, Oklahoma A&M,
Kansas State, Northwestern, California
1971 Bill Murray, Delaware, Duke
1972 Jack Curtice, Stanford
1973 Lloyd Jordan, Amherst, Harvard
1974 Alonzo S. "Jake" Gaither, Florida A&M
1975 Gerald B. Zornow, business executive
1976 No award given
1977 Floyd "Ben" Schwartzwalder, Muhlenberg, Syracuse
1978 Tom Hamilton, Navy, Pittsburgh
1979 H.O. "Fritz" Crisler, Minnesota, Princeton, Michigan
1980 No award given
1981 Fred Russell, sportswriter
1982 Eddie Robinson, Grambling
1983 Paul W. "Bear" Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama
1984 Charles B. "Bud" Wilkinson, Oklahoma
1985 Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State
1986 Woody Hayes, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State
1987 Field Scovell, Cotton Bowl
1988 G. Herbert McCracken, Allegheny, Lafayette
1989 David Nelson, Delaware
1990 Len Casanova, Oregon
1991 Bob Blackman, Denver, Dartmouth, Illinois, Cornell
1992 Charles McClendon, LSU
1993 Keith Jackson, ABC-TV
1994 Bob Devaney, Nebraska, Wyoming
1995 John Merritt, Jackson State, Tennessee State
1996 Chuck Neinas, College Football Association
1997 Ara Parseghian, Miami (Ohio), Northwestern, Notre Dame
1998 Bob Reade, Augustana (Ill.)
1999 Bo Schembechler, Miami (Ohio), Michigan
2000 Tom Osborne, Nebraska
2001 Vince Dooley, Georgia
2002 Joe Paterno, Penn State
2003 LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young
2004 Ron Schipper, Central (Iowa)
2005 Hayden Fry, North Texas, SMU, Iowa
2006 Grant Teaff, McMurry, Angelo State, Baylor
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)