Maine Maritime Academy Athletics

Gridiron Club Announces College Football Award Recipients for 2008 Season

BOSTON - December 17, 2008 – Gridiron Club of Greater Boston president Tim Whelan announced today that Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich (Wayne, PA) and Yale linebacker Bobby Abare (Acton, Mass.) are co-recipients of the 70th annual George “Bulger” Lowe Award for defense, and Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph (Amelia, OH) is the Lowe winner for offense. The trio heads an all-star roster of players, coaches and officials to be honored by club at its annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards Night on Thursday, January 15, 2009 at the Marriott Hotel in Burlington, Massachusetts.

The Bulger Lowe Award, “New England’s Heisman Trophy” and one of America’s oldest college football accolades, recognizes the six-state region’s best players in the NCAA Bowl and Championship Divisions, formerly known as Division IA and IAA. The 13th annual Joe Zabilski Award, which recognizes the top collegiate players in Divisions II and III, will go to running back Jeff Mack (Milford, NH) of Plymouth State University and defensive lineman Cody Andrews (Holden, ME.) of Maine Maritime Academy. Andrews finished a distinguished career at Maine Maritime by helping the Mariners to a conference championship game during the 2008 season. His 7 sacks and 14 tackles for loss led the team and he finished fourth on the squad with 82 tackles from the defensive line position. Andrews was an NEFC All-Conference selection for four years. Maine Maritime is the only DIII school to have had two recipients of this prestigious award. Running Back Don Thibodeau won the award in 2005.

The winners of the 63nd annual Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award for exceptional achievement in academics, athletics, and sportsmanship, are defensive back Andrew Berry (Bel Air, MD) of Harvard in the Bowl/Championship divisions and offensive lineman James Oleinik (Ellicott City, MD)of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Division II/III.

The club’s New England head coaches of the year for 2008 are Jeff Jagodzinski of Boston College in the Bowl/Championship Divisions and Art Wilkins of American International College in Divisions II – III. Assistant coach of the year accolades go to Mike Browne, offensive line coach at Tufts, and Joel Lamb, offensive coordinator at Harvard.

The Gridiron Club will also present the Joseph V. McKenney Award for top collegiate football official to Atlantic Coast Conference head linesman Mike Kelley of Shrewsbury, Mass. The club’s John Baronian Award for Lifetime Contribution to Football will be given to Ed Schluntz, former athletic director and head football coach at Brookline High School and former Harvard freshman football coach.

About the Gridiron Club, “Keepers of the Flame”: Founded in 1932, the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston promotes the game of football at all levels and nurtures the ideals of citizenship, sportsmanship, leadership, and athletic and academic achievement. Through its annual dinners and golf tournament, the club carries on its tradition of honoring exemplary players, coaches and officials at all levels of the sport, and supporting worthy charitable causes, especially those that assist children.

The Gridiron Club is steward of some of the most storied awards in American sport. The George H. “Bulger” Lowe Award, established in 1939 and awarded to New England’s best college football player, is the country’s second oldest accolade of its kind after the Heisman Trophy. The Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award, inaugurated by the club in 1946, recognizes college football players who also distinguish themselves in the classroom. In 1977, the club assumed stewardship of the Walter Brown Award, the nation’s oldest college hockey honor, which is given to the best American-born college player in New England.

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