About the Courage Award ...

The FedEx Orange Bowl Courage Award is annually given to a player, coach or support person in college football who displays courage, on or off the field.

The award was created by ESPN The Magazine's senior writer Gene Wojciechowski, also a FWAA member. A select group of writers from the FWAA vote on the winner each year.

The requirements for nomination for the weekly award include displaying some sort of courageous act, on or off the field including, overcoming an injury or physical handicap, preventing a disaster and living through a lifetime of hardships.

The 2009 recipient ...

The University of Connecticut football team has been named the winner of the 2009 FedEx Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award. The Huskies persevered throughout the 2009 season after the tragic death of starting cornerback Jasper Howard. Howard, a 20-year-old junior, died in the early morning hours of Oct. 18, just hours after UConn's homecoming win over Louisville, after he was stabbed following an off-campus party. The Huskies lost three emotional games following Howard's death – to West Virginia and Rutgers by identical scores of 28-24, after holding the lead late, and 47-45 at Cincinnati. But the Huskies, whose five losses were by a combined 15 points, finished the year with three straight wins – including a double-overtime win over Notre Dame on Nov. 21 and a 29-27 win over South Florida on Dave Teggart's field goal on the final play.

2009 FedEx Orange Bowl Courage Award Nominees
• Sept. 23: D.J. Williams, Arkansas
• Sept. 30: Mark Herzlich, Boston College
• Oct. 7: Darius Nall, UCF
• Oct. 14: Ricky Rosas, USC
• Oct. 21: Derrick Coleman, UCLA
• Oct. 28: Connecticut Huskies
• Nov. 4: Antoine "Shaky" Smithson, Utah
• Nov. 11: Dan Potokar, Ohio State
• Nov. 18: Thomas "Rock" Roggeman, East Carolina

Related link:
• FedEx Orange Bowl Courage Award

The 2008 recipient ...

Tulsa's Wilson Holloway, a freshman offensive lineman, has battled cancer since last spring, when a softball-sized mass was discovered in his chest. After Holloway was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, he underwent chemotherapy treatment throughout the spring and returned to play for the Golden Hurricane this season on special teams and in a reserve role. Despite the cancer, Holloway played in six games – including one game (Oct. 26 vs. Central Florida) after he had begun treatment. When he began losing his hair, his fellow offensive linemen shaved their heads. His coaches and teammates say through it all, Holloway has remained optimistic and determined.

2008 FedEx Orange Bowl Courage Award Nominees
• Sept. 10: Artrell Woods, Oklahoma State
• Sept. 17: Terence Campbell, East Carolina
• Sept. 24: Johnell Neal, Central Florida
• Oct. 1: Wilson Holloway, Tulsa
• Oct. 8: Inquoris "Inky" Johnson, Tennessee
• Oct. 15: Richard Bowman, North Dakota State
• Oct. 22: Tyson Gentry, Ohio State
• Oct. 29: Chris Ogbonnaya, Texas
• Nov. 12: Robert Quinn, North Carolina
• Nov. 19: Brandon Antwine, Florida

The 2007 recipient ...

Navy's Zerbin Singleton, a senior slotback, overcame a troubled background to win an appointment to the Naval Academy, and is on track to reach his ultimate goal of becoming an astronaut. He was named Brigade Commander for the second semester. Singleton didn't know his father until he was a senior in high school; a year later, his father committed suicide. Singleton had been living with cousins in Decatur, Ga., since he was 11, when he left his home in Alaska because his mother went to jail for a parole violation. Singleton was accepted by the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy, and chose the Navy because of the potential to "land on a carrier, in pitch black, while it's tilting left and right." But Singleton's dream was deferred when he was hit by a drunk driver one week before he was scheduled to graduate high school (as valedictorian). A broken collarbone meant he couldn't go through Navy's plebe summer, and couldn't enroll. But after a year at Georgia Tech, Singleton transferred to Navy. He's been a two-year starter. He carries a 3.14 GPA in aerospace engineering.

2007 FedEx Orange Bowl Courage Award Nominees
• Sept. 12: Brian Kajiyama, Hawaii
• Sept. 19: Terry Clayton, Kentucky
• Sept. 26: Danny Langsdorf, Oregon State
• Oct. 3: Lester Karlin, Virginia Tech
• Oct. 10: Zerbin Singleton, Navy
• Oct. 17: Ben Mauk, Cincinnati
• Oct. 24: Nic Harris, Oklahoma
• Oct. 31: Marcus Smith, New Mexico
• Nov. 7: Keegan Herring, Arizona State

The 2006 recipient ...

Ray Ray McElrathbey, a redshirt freshman at Clemson, saw most of his action on special teams this season. But he has undertaken the responsibility of caring for his 11-year-old brother, Fahmarr (now 12). Ray Ray and Fahmarr's mother has a cocaine addiction; their father has a gambling addiction. The brothers' home life in Atlanta was not stable and both had spent time in foster care. Ray Ray obtained temporary custody of Fahmarr and planned to support him with Pell grants, odd jobs and the monthly stipend for living off-campus.

2006 FedEx Orange Bowl Courage Award Nominees
• Sept. 20: Ray Ray McElrathbey, Clemson
• Sept. 27: Martel Van Zant, Oklahoma State
• Oct. 4: Terry Hoeppner, Indiana
• Oct. 11: Dan Howell, Washington
• Oct. 18: Eddie Martin, Navy
• Oct. 25: Bill Doba, Washington State
• Nov. 1: Jerry Kill, Southern Illinois
• Nov. 8: Carl Pendleton, Oklahoma
• Nov. 15: Mike Tepper, California
• Nov. 29: Carlos Garcia, Oregon State

In 2006, the FWAA and the FedEx Orange Bowl announced a weekly nominee during the season. A blue-ribbon panel determined the winner from those nominees.

For more information ...

Contact Steve Richardson with the FWAA (972-713-6198, tigerfwaa@aol.com) or V.J. Monzon at the FedEx Orange Bowl (305-341-4700, vmonzon@orangebowl.org).