National Football Foundation Gold Medal Winners

Each football season, The National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame pays tribute to a select few with awards of excellence for exhibiting superior qualities of scholarship, citizenship and leadership. Additionally, 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. He or she 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, he or she 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.

National Football Foundation Gold Medal Winners
The Gold Medal, the NFF’s highest honor, has been presented to seven U.S. Presidents, four U.S. Generals, three U.S. Admirals, one U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 25 Corporate CEOs and Chairmen.

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 Q. Blough

1964 - Donold B. Lourie

1965 - Juan T. Trippe

1966 - Earl H. "Red" 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

1978 - Vincent dePaul Draddy

1979 - William P. Lawrence

1980 - Walter J. Zable

1981 - Justin W. Dart

1982 - Silver Anniversary Awards (NCAA) - All Honored Jim Brown, Willie Davis, Jack Kemp, Ron Kramer, Jim Swink 1983 - Jack Kemp

1984 - John F. 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. 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 R. 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