APSU Governors Football’s Nick Newsome named member of Hampshire Society

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Football

Dallas, TX – The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) has announced Nick Newsome, a deep snapper on the Austin Peay State University football team, has been named a member of the 2012 NFF Hampshire Honor Society, which is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who maintain a 3.2 GPA or better.

A total of 721 players from 232 schools qualified for membership in the society’s sixth year, making this year’s class the largest since the program’s inception in 2007.

Qualifications for membership in the NFF National Honor Society include: being a starter or a significant substitute in one’s last year of eligibility at an accredited NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III, or an NAIA college or university; achieving a 3.2 cumulative grade point average throughout entire course of undergraduate study, and meeting all NCAA-mandated progress towards degree requirements.

Newsome graduated in December with a a 3.4 grade-point average as a political science major with a professional education minor. He was a two-time Academic All-America nominee and was selected as Austin Peay Athlete Leader of the Year in 2010-11.

The Dyersburg native also was President of the APSU chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a member of Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership society.

The NFF Hampshire Honor Society capitalizes on the NFF’s current National Scholar-Athlete program greatly expanding the number of scholar-athletes the NFF can recognize each year. The program further strengthens the organization’s leadership role in encouraging academic performance by the student-athletes who play football at the more than 700 college and universities with football programs nationwide.

Jon F. Hanson, the chairman and founder of The Hampshire Companies, provided the endowment to launch the NFF Hampshire Honor Society in 2007. He made the contribution as part of his legacy to the organization after serving as NFF chairman from 1994-2006. He currently serves the organization as a chairman emeritus. Each player awarded with membership in this year’s Honor Society will receive a certificate commemorating their achievement.

The Hampshire Honor Society represents a powerful component in the organization’s rich history as an innovator in promoting the scholar-athlete ideal. Launched in 1959 with a donation from Hall of Fame coach Earl “Red” Blaik, the NFF’s National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments, became the first initiative in history to grant postgraduate scholarships based on a player’s combined academic success, football performance and community leadership. And, since its inception, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards program has awarded $9.8 million to 756 top scholars and community leaders.

Currently, the NFF distributes more than $300,000 a year at the national level through the program to 16 individuals. Each winner of a National Scholar-Athlete Award receives an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. Additionally, the William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, is given to one member of each year’s class as the absolute best.

The winner of the Campbell Trophy, claimed by Army linebacker Andrew Rodriguez in 2011, receives a total scholarship of $25,000 and a 24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy. Through, its chapter network, the NFF also awards an additional $1 million to local high school student-athletes, bringing the NFF’s annual scholarship distribution total to more than $1.3 million.