Sports News Southwest

Phoenix, Arizona - The annual Valley of the Sun Chapter National Football Foundation (NFF) banquet has added The Scottsdale Plaza Resort as its prime sponsor. Hall of Fame offensive tackle and popular ESPN television commentator Mark May has agreed to provide the featured speech of the event on Saturday evening, February 21.

The Scottsdale Plaza Resort’s 28^th Annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet presented by The Fiesta Bowl will celebrate the unusual circumstance of not one, but two former Arizona State University footballers being inducted this past December into the College Football Hall of Fame - guard Randall McDaniel (1984-87) and head coach John Cooper (1985-87) - as well as honor 23 high school and college athletes who have excelled in the classroom and community, and on the gridiron.

An outdoor ASU-themed tailgate party will launch the festivities at 5:00 p.m. on February 21, with dinner seating at 6:30 p.m. Individual tickets are priced at $75, and tables of 10 are available for $750. Information, ticket orders, and table reservations (which close on February 16) are obtainable from reservations chair Diana Balich at 602-320-4839 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  Event attendees are asked to wear business attire to the Scottsdale Hilton Resort, the banquet’s traditional site, at 6333 North Scottsdale Road.

In addition to presentations to the ASU Hall of Famers and Scholar-Athletes, Karen and Bob Hobbs, Sr. will be honored jointly with the chapter’s Distinguished Arizonan Award, former ASU Rose Bowl coach Bruce Snyder will receive the Pete Altieri Lifetime Achievement Coaching Award, Jim Foster will receive the Bob Madrid Official Award, Samuel Leichty of Mountain View High School will be awarded the Shaw Courage Award, and board member Frank Connell will receive the Chapter Leadership Award.

The accomplished high school scholar-athletes are: Demitrius Burnett of Cesar Chavez, Daniel Casey of Bourgade, Sean Duncan of Estella Foothills, Bret Hager of Mountain Ridge, Kyle Kilcoin of Buckeye Union, Joseph Lauer of Westview, Samuel Leichty of Mountain View, Derek Maisel of Corona del Sol, Chance Mixon of Antelope Union, Adam Mosbrucker of Northwest Christian, Brian Parker of Red Mountain, Cole Pembroke of Desert Vista, Paul Porras of Saguaro, JamesBond Robinson of Paradise Valley, Craig Roh of Chaparral, Taylor Stib of Pinnacle, Collin Stoffel of Willow Canyon, Andrew Swartz of Gilbert, Austin Swerdfeger of Deer Valley, Christopher Taylor of Mingus Union, Cory Thellman of Joseph City, Kyle Trella of Chandler, and Timothy Whiteside of Mountain Pointe. The college scholar-athlete honoree is Troy Nolan of Arizona State.

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