Tate Nelson of Union High School and James Price of Camas were awarded $3,500 college scholarships on Wednesday by the Clark County chapter of the National Football Foundation.
Nelson and Price received the largest awards during the chapter’s 23rd-annual scholarship event at Hudson’s Bay High School. Receiving $2,500 scholarships were Gabe Lopez of Camas and Max Hiller of La Center. Receiving $1,500 scholarships were Nathan Hawthorne of Columbia River and Troy Flanagan of Woodland.
Price and Nelson both said that football helped them in the classroom and beyond.
“It’s a very big honor and I’m really glad that they thought me deserving of this scholarship,” Nelson said. “It shows that all the hard work I’ve put in comes to fruition. It feels good.”
“It means the world to me,” Price said. “It’s a blessing from the National Football Foundation, and from the community in general. It’s definitely a blessing to be part of this Clark County community.
“Football has developed me into the young man that I am today,” Price said. “It’s taught me the value of work ethic and character, and how to reflect that in the classroom.”
A total of 33 high school seniors from Southwest Washington were recognized for their football and academic accomplishments. A committee selects the local NFF scholarship winners based on the nominees accomplishments in football, academics and community involvement. Each school can nominate one lineman and one back.
In addition to the scholarship winners, several coaches were honored.
La Center coach John Lambert received the Gary Boggs Award, which honors a local head coach for motivating players to achieve excellence.
Dan Kielty, the Camas defensive coordinator, received the John Hadley Award which honors an assistant football coach for loyalty and dedication to the sport.
Mark Rego, a Union assistant coach, won the NFF award for Outstanding Contributions to Amateur Football. Rego is a longtime Clark County Youth Football volunteer.
The chapter’s Distinguished American Award was presented to Al McKee, who has served Stevenson in many capacities, including as a coach at Stevenson High School.
During the event, the Evergreen Officials Association presented its Evans-Luce Sportsmanship Award and Scholarship to the La Center football program and to Hiller.
Here are the other players who were nominated by their school for NFF scholarship consideration: Chris Waters and Nic Manuel of Battle Ground, Gabe Evenson of Columbia River, Kobey Eaton and Tupre Wickliff of Evergreen, Jarod Luedecker and Jeremiah Kelly of Heritage, Joe Davis and Joshua Carter of Hockinson, Anthony Sanchez and Nick Embleton of Hudson’s Bay, Blake Johnston of La Center, Garrett Jones and Jeff Adams of Mountain View, Justin Pena and Emilio Ruiz-Idera of Prairie, William Noce-Sheldon and C.J. Farrell of Seton Catholic, Zac Shomler and Parker Baker of Skyview, Jordan Rodriguez of Stevenson, Nolan Henry of Union, Brandon Casteel and Sam Barnes of Washougal, Josh Lewis and Isaac Bell of White Salmon and Nathan Cloud of Woodland.
Derek Sparks, head football coach at Seattle’s Garfield High School, was the featured speaker. A former running back at Washington State, Sparks is the coauthor of “Lessons of the Game,” a book about his experiences as a heavily recruited high school athlete.
Sparks said that he found his life’s purpose when this past August he was offered the chance to be Garfield’s football coach — a job he said found him when he wasn’t looking for it. Garfield made the state playoffs for the first time since 1979, though Sparks noted with humor that the last time he was in Vancouver his team was losing to Columbia River in the state playoffs.
“Your biggest challenge in life is not how many tackles you’re going to make, how many touchdowns you’re going to score, how many interceptions you catch, how many games you win or how many championship rings you have,” Sparks said in his speech. “Your biggest challenge … is finding your purpose in life and answering your call.”
Gery Gehrmann, founder of the Clark County chapter of the National Football Foundation, announced during Wednesday’s event that he will be hand over leadership of the local chapter to Rick Fields. Gehrmann said he plans to remain involved with the chapter in a support role.
The mission of the National Football Foundation is to support amateur football. In addition to scholarship and education programs, the NFF operates the College Football Hall of Fame which is located in Atlanta.
