High school football may be over, but there is still a chance to come out and support the best of our local student athletes at the Miss-Lou National Football Foundation Chapter’s annual banquet Thursday at the Natchez Community Center.

The National Football Foundation was established in 1947 and has more than 120 local chapters across the United States.

The mission of the Foundation is “to promote and develop the power of amateur football in developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and drive for the academic excellence in America’s young people.”

Our local chapter was established in 1981 by many of the local football legends including Joe Fortunato, Allen Brown, Tony Byrne and Bob Dearing to name a few.

At first, the foundation awarded each recipient a certificate of accomplishment, but through the hard work and dedication of the founders and the support of this community we are now able to give away $10,000 in scholarships every year. All of the money is raised by the support of this community through our annual Joe Fortunato golf tournament, which will be May 2 at Duncan Park. This is truly a community event where all the money is raised stays within the community.

This year we have the honor and privilege of recognizing the best and brightest high school student-athletes from around the Miss-Lou and will be awarding $10,000 in scholarships to these deserving recipients. We will also be recognizing the best and brightest from the local junior high schools as well as making presentations to two locals that have influenced the lives of thousands of children through their dedication to amateur sports via our Distinguished American and the Contribution to Amateur Football awards. A little icing on the cake this year is that Alcorn State’s Head Coach Jay Hopson will be coming to help us recognize these athletes and serve as our keynote speaker for the night. Hopson took over the reins at Alcorn and has turned them into a successful program in a short tenure and we are honored to have him at our banquet. He is a man of integrity, discipline, and strong Christian morale, and is a role model to all student-athletes regardless of the sport.

We would like to thank everyone that has played a role in supporting this great event and give special thanks to our local amateur athletes that have proven themselves both on and off the field. If you would like tickets to the event please contact Terry Estes at 601-446-6555 or myself at 601-445-2022.

 

Key Smith is a member of the National Football Foundation.