# National Football Foundation Gold Medal winners

Each football season, the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame pay tribute to a select few with awards of excellence for exhibiting superior qualities of scholarship, citizenship and leadership. The Foundation also recognizes individuals who demonstrate outstanding support for the NFF and its mission of promoting the game of amateur football. The NFF Gold Medal is the highest award offered by the NFF.

## Gold Medal qualifications

Recipient’s life must reflect the values of those who have excelled in amateur sport, particularly football. Recipients must have achieved success in an industrial, business, financial, educational, professional or related career and American citizen, most of whose business life has been spent in the United States. Moreover, they must have an unblemished reputation for honesty and integrity.
Additionally, the recipient must have "contributed notably in public service to the welfare of his country and fellow citizens," either as a private citizen or as a government official or both. and have shown a capacity for dedicated institutional commitment to the problem of our competitive economy versus a centrally dictated society and a concern for the human spirit as well as the mind. Recipient may be an elected or appointed federal or state government official, or a member of Congress or any state legislative body, however, they shall not be selected because of political power or on a partisan basis.

## Selection process

Various individuals associated with the National Football Foundation, such as former recipients, board members, corporate leaders, chapter presidents and friends, send nominations and suggestions to the NFF chairman. Selection of the recipient is made by the awards committee and ratified by the board of directors.
    1958 – Dwight D. Eisenhower
    1959 – Douglas MacArthur
    1960 – Herbert C. Hoover and Amos Alonzo Stagg
    1961 – John F. Kennedy
    1962 – Byron "Whizzer" White
    1963 – Roger Blough
    1964 – Donold B. Lourie
    1965 – Juan Trippe
    1966 – Earl Blaik
    1967 – Frederick L. Hovde
    1968 – Chester J. LaRoche
    1969 – Richard M. Nixon
    1970 – Thomas J. Hamilton
    1971 – Ronald W. Reagan
    1972 – Gerald R. Ford
    1973 – John Wayne
    1974 – Gerald B. Zornow
    1975 – David Packard
    1976 – Edgar B. Speer
    1977 – Louis H. Wilson Jr.
    1978 – Vincent dePaul Draddy
    1979 – William P. Lawrence
    1980 – Walter J. Zable
    1981 – Justin Whitlock Dart Sr.
    1982 – Silver Anniversary Awards (NCAA) – All Honored Jim Brown, Willie Davis, Jack Kemp, Ron Kramer, Jim Swink
    1983 – Jack Kemp
    1984 – John McGillicuddy
    1985 – William I. Spencer
    1986 – William H. Morton
    1987 – Charles R. Meyer
    1988 – Clinton E. Frank
    1989 – Paul Brown
    1990 – Thomas H. Moorer
    1991 – George H. W. Bush
    1992 – Donald R. Keough
    1993 – Norman Schwarzkopf
    1994 – Thomas S. Murphy
    1995 – Harold Alfond
    1996 – Gene Corrigan
    1997 – Jackie Robinson
    1998 – John H. McConnell
    1999 – Keith Jackson
    2000 – Fred M. Kirby II
    2001 – Billy Joe "Red" McCombs
    2002 – George M. Steinbrenner III
    2003 – General Tommy Franks (Ret.)
    2004 – William V. Campbell
    2005 – Jon F. Hanson
    2006 – Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden
    2007 – Pete Dawkins and Roger Staubach
    2008 – John Glenn
    2009 – Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman
    2010 – Bill Cosby
    2011 – Robert Gates
    2012 – Roscoe Brown
    2013 – National Football League and Roger Goodell
    2014 - Tom Catena and George Weiss
    2015 – Condoleezza Rice
    2016 – Archie Manning
    2017 – No award
    2018 – Aaron Feis and Jason Seaman
    2019 – Mark Harmon