Lombardi Award

The Lombardi Award is awarded by the Lombardi Foundation annually to the best college football player, regardless of position, based on performance, as well as leadership, character, and resiliency.[1] From 1970 until 2016 the award was presented by Rotary International specifically to a lineman or linebacker. The Lombardi Award program was approved by the Rotary International club in Houston in 1970 shortly after the death of famed National Football League coach Vince Lombardi.[2] The committee outlined the criteria for eligibility for the award, which remained in place until 2016: A player should be a down lineman on either offense or defense or a linebacker who lines up no further than five yards deep from the ball.[3]

Not to be confused with the Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is given to the National Football League Super Bowl winner.

Lombardi Award
Given for	the best college football player
Location	Houston, Texas
Country	United States
Presented by	Lombardi Foundation (since 2017)
History
First award	1970
Most recent	Joe Burrow
Website	http://thelombardifoundation.org

The voting electorate is made up of the head coaches from all NCAA Division I schools, sports media personnel from across the country, and former winners and finalists of the Lombardi Award. The total number of voters is approximately 500.[4] Ohio State University holds the record for most Lombardi awards with six. Orlando Pace, the only two-time winner (1995 and 1996), is the most recent offensive lineman to be honored.

The main part of the trophy used to be a block of granite, paying homage to Lombardi's college days at Fordham University as an offensive lineman when his offensive line was referred to as the "Seven Blocks of Granite".[5] A new trophy designed by Texas sculptor Edd Hayes replaced the original block of granite.

Winners

The prior Lombardi Award logo.

Year	Player	School	Position
1970	Jim Stillwagon	Ohio State	MG
1971	Walt Patulski	Notre Dame	DT
1972	Rich Glover	Nebraska	MG
1973	John Hicks	Ohio State	OT
1974	Randy White	Maryland	DT
1975	Lee Roy Selmon	Oklahoma	DE
1976	Wilson Whitley	Houston	DE
1977	Ross Browner	Notre Dame	DE
1978	Bruce Clark	Penn State	DT
1979	Brad Budde	USC	OG
1980	Hugh Green	Pittsburgh	DE
1981	Kenneth Sims	Texas	DT
1982	Dave Rimington	Nebraska	C
1983	Dean Steinkuhler	Nebraska	OT
1984	Tony Degrate	Texas	DT
1985	Tony Casillas	Oklahoma	DT
1986	Cornelius Bennett	Alabama	LB
1987	Chris Spielman	Ohio State	LB
1988	Tracy Rocker	Auburn	DT
1989	Percy Snow	Michigan State	LB
1990	Chris Zorich	Notre Dame	DT
1991	Steve Emtman	Washington	DT
1992	Marvin Jones	Florida State	LB
1993	Aaron Taylor	Notre Dame	OT
1994	Warren Sapp	Miami	DT
1995	Orlando Pace	Ohio State	OT
1996	Orlando Pace	Ohio State	OT
1997	Grant Wistrom	Nebraska	DE
1998	Dat Nguyen	Texas A&M	LB
1999	Corey Moore	Virginia Tech	DE
2000	Jamal Reynolds	Florida State	DT
2001	Julius Peppers	North Carolina	DE
2002	Terrell Suggs	Arizona State	DE
2003	Tommie Harris	Oklahoma	DT
2004	David Pollack	Georgia	DE
2005	A. J. Hawk	Ohio State	LB
2006	LaMarr Woodley	Michigan	LB
2007	Glenn Dorsey	LSU	DT
2008	Brian Orakpo	Texas	DE
2009	Ndamukong Suh	Nebraska	DT
2010	Nick Fairley	Auburn	DT
2011	Luke Kuechly	Boston College	LB
2012	Manti Te'o	Notre Dame	LB
2013	Aaron Donald	Pittsburgh	DT
2014	Scooby Wright III	Arizona	LB
2015	Carl Nassib	Penn State	DE
2016	Jonathan Allen	Alabama	DE
2017	Bryce Love	Stanford	RB
2018	Ugochukwu Amadi	Oregon	S
2019	Joe Burrow	LSU	QB

See also

• Outland Trophy, awarded annually to the best interior lineman in college football
• Rimington Trophy, awarded annually to the best center in college football
• Ted Hendricks Award, awarded annually to the best defensive end in college football
• UPI College Football Lineman of the Year

References

General

• "Vince Lombardi Award Winners". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 16, 2017.

Footnotes

1. Foundation, Lombardi (2017-10-26). "LOMBARDI AWARD UNDER NEW DIRECTION & 2018 EVENT DATE SET". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2018-12-07.
2. "The Rotary Lombardi Award". The Rotarian. Rotary International. 167 (6): 34. December 1995. ISSN 0035-838X. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
3. Reineking, Jim (July 14, 2015). "2015 Rotary Lombardi Award watch list". NFL.com. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
4. "Texas' Orakpo wins Lombardi Award". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 10, 2008. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
5. "Michigan's Woodley wins Lombardi Award". USA Today. Associated Press. December 6, 2006. Retrieved July 16, 2017.

External links

• Official website