My dad received a very prestigious award on Monday evening and most of our family (minus Maggie and some grandchildren) were able to attend. And I am so thankful we were able to be a part of it. He received the Bronko Nagurski Legends Trophy. The "BN" trophy is given annually to the top Defensive Player of the Year by the Football Writer's Association. It is basically the Heisman for Defensive players (since no defensive player has ever won the Heisman). A few years ago they started giving a Legends award too--given to a past player. This year they highlighted the year 1969 (my dad's senior season at Notre Dame).
The day was a busy one for my dad. They had the 5 finalists for the award there, my dad and the keynote speaker, Dabo Swinney (Clemson football coach). They held a leadership forum, a luncheon, and visited an area hospital. They signed numerous things for the silent auction and had a jam packed day!
Our night started around 5:45 at the VIP gathering. There were tons of great food items and people mingling and mixing...They had this station set up where all the guys came in and signed autographs.
The 5 collegiate finalists for Top Defensive Player of the year included: Da'Quan Bowers (Clemson), Justin Houston (Georgia), Nick Fairley (Auburn), Patrick Peterson (LSU) and Luke Kutchley (Boston College)
Randy was so excited. He grew up a huge Clemson fan and this night he got to meet Dabo Swinney...My dad had spent the day with him and told him about Randy
Molly and sweet baby Kasen joined us...it was my first time meeting him---he is already 6 weeks old!
Here is the frenzy of people crowding to get all these signatures...it was crazy!
Randy and I
We then moved upstairs to the banquet hall. It had many different tables for all the guests to sit at...there were almost 1,000 people in attendance!
We found a poster of my dad on the wall
Dad and daughters...we missed you Maggie...wish you could have been there!
Bronko Nagurski himself!
Sweet Kasen
Dabo Swinney was the keynote speaker...he did really well and gave a great motivational speech
My dad's award was presented towards the end of the evening...it was almost 9pm at this point!
He gave a really good acceptance speech which my mom said he did not prepare before hand. He is used to speaking in front of people and his comfort was obvious
This is dad and Da'Quan Bowers of Clemson who won the collegiate award for best Defensive Player of the year
The trophy...it weighs at least 50 pounds
All the guys doing the Bronko "pose"
Dad and his sister, Aunt Sandy
Mom and Dad...they've been married 40 years!
My dad's uniform will stay here
heading to our "after party"
Which really just included hanging out, holding Kasen, and eating M&M's... ha ha
If you were wondering, our kids stayed at Grandma Debbie's and Grandpa's house...it was nice to get away and stay at the Westin
I think Kasen favors Karson a whole lot
And then the next morning we got up and headed to breakfast together...I had to take a pic of my mom with all of her fun colors on!
It's amazing how small babies are to begin with!
It was an incredible experience, a once in a life time honor for my dad and I am so glad most of us were able to be there to experience it!I'll post again with some video footage and some more pics of some of the current players...so fun!
