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Posted: Dec 17, 2010

McCarthy to Receive Joe Zabilski Award from Gridiron Club of Greater Boston

McCarthy to Receive Joe Zabilski Award from Gridiron Club of Greater Boston

Boston, Mass. - Gridiron Club of Greater Boston president Ray Gallant announced today that Framingham State University wide receiver James McCarthy (Newton, Mass.) has been selected to receive the 15th annual Joe Zabilski Award which recognizes the top players in Divisions II and III.  McCarthy is the Division III recipient, while Shawn Loiseau, a linebacker from Merrimack College, is the Division II winner.  The winners of all of the awards presented by the Gridiron Club will be honored by the club at its annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards Night on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, Massachusetts.

McCarthy continues to rack up honors this season as he has previously been a New England Football Writers Division II/III All-New England selection, a first team New England Football Conference (NEFC) All-Bogan Division selection and a first team All-Region selection by D3football.com.  McCarthy rewrote the Rams record book in 2010 as he became the first FSU wide receiver to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a season making 62 catches for 1,100 yards and 22 touchdowns.  Despite missing the first two games of the year due to injury, he led the nation in scoring and the NEFC in receptions per game, receiving yards per game, touchdowns and scoring.  McCarthy has broken seven FSU offensive records including touchdown receptions in a game and season, points in a game and season, touchdowns in a game and season, and receiving yards in a season. 

Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly (Cincinnati, OH) and running back Montel Harris (Jacksonville, FL) are recipients of the 72nd annual George "Bulger" Lowe Award, "New England's Heisman Trophy" and one of America's oldest college football accolades.

The Bulger Lowe Award recognizes the New England's best offensive and defensive players in the NCAA Bowl and Championship Divisions, formerly known as Divisions IA and IAA. Kuechly and Harris head an all-star slate of players, coaches and officials to be honored by club at its annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards Night on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The club also announced that the winners of the 65th annual Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Award for exceptional achievement in sportsmanship, academics, and athletics, are offensive lineman Anthony Castonzo (Hawthorn Woods, IL) of Boston College in the Bowl/Championship Divisions and defensive lineman Ryan Schmid (Robbinsville, NJ) of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Division II/III.

 

Other honors conferred that evening by the Gridiron Club will be:

 
  • Head Coach of the Year awards to Randy Edsall of Connecticut in the Bowl/Championship Divisions and JB Wells of Endicott College in Divisions II/III.
  • Assistant Coach of the Year awards to Tim Stowers, offensive coordinator at Central Connecticut State University in the Bowl/Championship Divisions and Tom Godek, offensive coordinator at Southern Connecticut State University in Divisions II/III.
  • The Joseph V. McKenney Award for top collegiate football official to Big East umpire Ron Kumiega (Westfield, MA).
  • The John Baronian Award for Lifetime Contribution to Football will be given to Tom Austin, who was head coach at Colby College for 18 years.

 

 

 

About the Gridiron Club, "Keepers of the Flame": Founded in 1932, the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston (www.gridclubofgreaterboston.com) promotes the game of football at all levels and nurtures the ideals of citizenship, sportsmanship, leadership, and athletic and academic achievement. Through its annual dinners and golf tournament, the club carries on its tradition of honoring exemplary players, coaches and officials at all levels of the sport, and supporting worthy charitable causes, especially those that assist children.

The Gridiron Club is steward of some of the most storied awards in American sport. The George H. "Bulger" Lowe Award, established in 1939 and awarded to New England's best college football players, is the country's oldest accolade of its kind after the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award. The Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Award, inaugurated in 1946, recognizes football players who also distinguish themselves in the classroom. In 1977, the club assumed stewardship of the Walter Brown Award, the nation's oldest college hockey honor, which is given to the best American-born college player in New England.