Washington D.C. Touchdown Club

The Washington D.C. Touchdown Club was started in 1935 with a passion for charity and sports. In the ensuing years the Club has benefited many local charities as well as providing scholarships to deserving student/athletes. The Touchdown Timmies, the club's trophies, are given each year to athletes who excelled in their respective arenas including professionals, college and scholastic players. Additionally, the Club provided monies to 15 charitable organizations each year.

Recently, the name was changed to "Touchdown Club Charities of Washington, DC". It was founded by a group of college football enthusiasts in 1935, among them Dutch Bergman. The motto is "Children, Scholarship, and Community".

The Timmie Awards began with a formal dinner at the Willard Hotel in 1937 where All-American Quarterback Marshall Goldberg was honored as Best Player of the Year. Over the past sixty years, the club's dinner awards programs honoring of more than 200 outstanding college players and hundreds of professional high school athletes, have attracted celebrities from many fields and national media attention.

Touchdown Club Founder
Arthur "Dutch" Bergman was a "man of a dozen talents and as many careers is gone. If ever there was anything Dutch Bergman could not do well, then he had never tried it. The handsome silver-haired man who died Friday night (August 18, 1972) got his wish — he never retired. At 77 he was still serving as the manager of the D.C. Armory and RFK Stadium."--Bob Addie, a Washington sports columnist.

Bergman was an outstanding back with George Gipp on the Notre Dame teams of the 1920s. He was later assistant football coach at the University of Minnesota and the University of New Mexico, and head coach at Catholic University, winning their first Orange Bowl in 1936, and head coach of the Eastern Division titlist Washington Redskins of 1943. Dutch was also an Army flyer in World War I, a mining engineer, a top-level Government official, a sports writer, a broadcaster and, finally, manager of the D.C. Armory and RFK Stadium.

The "Timmie Awards" are the name given to the awards that the club awarded beginning in 1946. In addition to an NFL Player of the Year, they also award a Coach of the Year and administered the Washington Redskins team awards, among others. The club was the first to award a "MVP" award to a defensive player, Gene Brito, in 1955. The Philadelphia Maxwell Club awarded a similar honor to Andy Robustelli in 1962.

NFL Player of the Year Awards
As voted on by the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club

1945—Bob Waterfield, Cleveland Rams

1946—Bill Dudley, Pittsburgh Steelers

1947—Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins 1948—Sammy Baugh (2), Washington Redskins

1949—Steve Van Buren, Philadelphia Eagles; Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns

1950—Bob Waterfield, Los Angeles Rams 1951—Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns

1952—Lynn Chandnois, Pittsburgh Steelers

1953—Lou Groza, Cleveland Browns

1954—Norm Van Brocklin, Los Angeles Rams

1955—Gene Brito, Washington Redskins

1956—Frank Gifford, New York Giants

1957—John Unitas, Baltimore Colts

1958—Johnny Unitas (2), Baltimore Colts and Jim Brown, Cleveland Browns

1959—Charley Conerly, New York Giants

1960—Norm Van Brocklin (2), Philadelphia Eagles

1961—Paul Hornung, Green Bay Packers

1962—Y. A. Tittle, New York Giants

1963—Jim Brown (2), Cleveland Browns

1964—Lenny Moore, Baltimore Colts

1965—Pete Retzlaff, Philadelphia Eagles

1966—Jim Nance, Boston Patriots, (AFL); Sonny Jurgensen, Washington Redskins, (NFL)

1967—Lance Alworth, San Diego Chargers, (AFL); Johnny Unitas (3), Baltimore Colts, (NFL)

1968—Daryle Lamonica, Oakland Raiders, (AFL); Ray Nitschke, Green Bay Packers, (NFL)

1969—Lance Alworth (2), San Diego Chargers, (AFL); Sonny Jurgensen (2), Washington Redskins, (NFL)

1970—Fran Tarkenton, New York Giants

1971—Billy Kilmer,Washington Redskins; Jack Pardee, Washington Redskins

1972—Larry Brown, Washington Redskins

1973—O. J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills

1974—Joe Greene, Pittsburgh Steelers

1975—Fran Tarkenton (2), Minnesota Vikings

1976—Roger Staubach, Dallas Cowboys (NFC); Bert Jones, Baltimore Colts (AFC)

1977—Walter Payton, Chicago Bears, (NFC); Craig Morton, Denver Broncos, (AFC)

1978—Pat Haden, Los Angeles Rams, (NFC); Jim Zorn, Seattle Seahawks, (AFC)

1979—Joe Theismann, Washington Redskins (NFC); Dan Fouts, San Diego Chargers (AFC)

1980—Steve Bartkowski, Atlanta Falcons (NFC); Brian Sipe, Cleveland Browns (AFC)

1981—Tony Dorsett, Dallas Cowboys (NFC); Ken Anderson, Cincinnati Bengals (AFC)

1982—Mark Moseley, Washington Redskins (NFC); Dan Fouts (2); San Diego Chargers (AFC)

1983—Eric Dickerson, Los Angeles Rams (NFC); Curt Warner, Seattle Seahawks (AFC)

1984—Eric Dickerson (2), Los Angeles Rams (NFC); Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins

1985—Walter Payton (2), Chicago Bears (NFC); Ken O'Brien, New York Jets (AFC)

1986—Lawrence Taylor, New York Giants (NFC);Al Toon, New York Jets (AFC)

1987—Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers (NFC); John Elway, Denver Broncos (AFC)

1988—Roger Craig, San Francisco 49ers (NFC); Boomer Esiason, Cincinnati Bengals (AFC)

1989—Joe Montana (2), San Francisco 49ers (NFC); Christian Okoye, Kansas City Chiefs (AFC)

1990—Barry Sanders, Detroit Lions (NFC); Jim Kelly, Buffalo Bills (AFC)

1991—Mark Rypien, Washington Redskins (NFC); Thurman Thomas, Buffalo Bills (AFC)

1992—Steve Young, San Francisco (NFC); Barry Foster, Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC)

1993—Mark Stepnoski, Dallas Cowboys (NFC); Rod Woodson, Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC)

1994—Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers (NFC); Junior Seau, San Diego Chargers (AFC)

1995—Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers (NFC); Steve Bono, Kansas City Chiefs (AFC)

1996—Kevin Greene, Carolina Panthers (NFC); Bruce Smith, Buffalo Bills (AFC)

1997—Brett Favre (2), Green Bay Packers (NFC); Terrell Davis, Denver Broncos (AFC)

1998—Randall Cunningham, Minnesota Vikings (NFC); Terrell Davis (2), Denver Broncos (AFC)

1999—Kurt Warner, St. Louis Rams (NFC); Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (AFC)

2000—Marshall Faulk, St. Louis Rams (NFC); Rich Gannon, Oakland Raiders(AFC)

2001—Kurt Warner (2), St. Louis Rams (NFC); Rich Gannon (2), Oakland Raiders (AFC)

2002—Brett Favre (3), Green Bay Packers (NFC); Rich Gannon (3), Oakland Raiders (AFC)

2003—Randy Moss, Minnesota Vikings (NFC); Jamal Lewis, Baltimore Ravens (AFC)

2004—Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles (NFC); Peyton Manning (2), Indianapolis Colts (AFC)

2005—Shaun Alexander, Seattle Seahawks (NFC); Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals (AFC)

2006—Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints (NFC); LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers (AFC)

2007—Brett Favre (4), Green Bay Packers (NFC); Tom Brady, New England Patriots (AFC)

2008—Kurt Warner (3), Arizona Cardinals (NFC); Peyton Manning (3), Indianapolis Colts (AFC)

2009—Brett Favre (5), Minnesota Vikings (NFC); Peyton Manning (4), Indianapolis Colts (AFC)

Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy
Presented annually by the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club to the collegiate lineman of the year

1939—Ken Kavanaugh, E, LSU

1940—Bob Suffridge, G, Tennessee

Walter Camp Memorial Trophy
Since 1937 presented annually by the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club to the collegiate back of the year

1939—Nile Kinnick, HB, Iowa

1959—Billy Cannon, HB, LSU

1961—Ernie Davis, HB, Syracuse

1962—Jerry Stovall, HB, LSU

1963—Roger Staubach, QB, Navy

1966—Steve Spurrier, QB, Florida

1969—Archie Manning, QB, Ole Miss

Touchdown Club Charities Hall of Fame
Touchdown Club Charities hosts its own Football Hall of Fame. Starting in 2000, the Club has decided to expand its Hall of Fame selection process to include the American public at large. The top 10 nominees will be presented to the public for election. The top five will be elected and inducted into the Hall of Fame at a date subsequent to the election.

Distinguished individuals in the DC Touchdown Club Hall of Fame are players such as “Dutch” Bergman, George Preston Marshall, Knute Rockne, Bronko Nagurski, Jim Thorpe, Bobby Mitchell, Sammy Baugh, Walter Camp, Sonny Jurgenson, Red Grange and Johnny Unitas that are in the Hall of Fame. More recent inductees include Gene Upshaw and Larry Brown.