2009 National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award winner Billy Payne awarded the traditional Masters championship green jacket to fellow Georgia alumnus Bubba Watson last Sunday in Augusta, Ga.

2009 NFF William V. Campbell Award recipient Tim Tebow joined Pastor and former LSU standout Joe Champion as featured Easter sunrise services at Celebration Church in Georgetown, Texas, before an estimated 25,000 worshipers.

The NFF Gridiron Club of Dallas has chosen legendary Dallas Cowboys retired vice president of player personnel Gil Brandt as the 2012 Distinguished Texan Award. Brandt will accept the award at the chapter’s fourth annual banquet April 16 at the Marriott Quorum in Addison, Texas. A native of Milwaukee, Wis., Brandt graduated from the University of Wisconsin and began working for the Cowboys before their inaugural season in 1960. He quickly morphed Dallas from expansion also-ran to contenders. In 1966, the Cowboys earned their first winning record, finishing with a 10-3-1 mark, and reached the NFL Championship Game. That season began a streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons in which they won two Super Bowls, five NFC championships, 13 division titles and 18 playoff appearances, a run that earned the Cowboys the moniker of “America’s Team.” For the complete release, please go to footballfoundation.com as well as for the Gridiron Club of Dallas’ distinguished Scholar-Athlete Award winners for 2012.

Happy birthdays to NFF College Hall of Famers Terry Hoage (Apr. 11), Mike Garrett (Apr. 12), Ted Kwalick (Apr. 15), and Steve Emtman (Apr. 16)…

Some key birthdates in NFF College Football Hall of Fame annals in the Apr. 10-16 time period are Apr. 10 (1909) Clarke Hinkle, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; (1918) Jim Daniell, Pittsburgh, Pa.; (1938) Don Meredith, Mt. Vernon, Texas; Apr. 11 (1903) Jake Gaither, Dayton, Tenn.; (1916) Sam Chapman, Tiburon, Calif.; (1916) Danny Fortmann, Pearl River, N.Y.; (1941) Joe Romig, Salt Lake City, Utah; (1962) Terry Hoage, Ames, Iowa; Apr. 12 (1870) Winchester Osgood, Port Bananas, Fla.; (1944) Mike Garrett, Los Angeles, Calif.; Apr. 13 (1897) Jimmy Leech, Collierville, Va.; (1915) Bob Devaney, Saginaw, Mich.; Apr. 14 (1876) Eddie Rogers, Libby, Minn.; (1901) Mal Stevens, Stockton, Kan.; (1926) Harry Gilmer, Birmingham, Ala.; Apr. 15 (1938) Richie Lucas, Glassport, Pa.; (1947) Ted Kwalick, McKees Rocks, Pa.; Apr. 16 (1970) Steve Emtman, Spokane, Wash.; (1972) Jim Ballard, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Anniversary death dates of Hall of Famers are Apr. 11 (1948) Jock Sutherland, Pittsburgh, Pa.; (2008) Bob Pellegrini, Marmora, N.J.; Apr. 15 (2002) Byron “Whizzer” White, Denver, Colo.; Apr. 16 (1981) Lee Tressel, Berea, Ohio

Boise State and Utah State have scheduled a series for 2014 and ’15…Bowling Green and Buffalo will move their Nov. 23 contest to Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio…Minnesota and Middle Tennessee will meet for the first time in 2014…Utah and Northern Colorado will tangle initially on Thursday, Aug. 30, at Salt Lake City. Utah has cancelled its scheduled encounter with Utah State in ‘14…Rutgers will host Howard on Sept. 8 this season…Air Force athletics has placed upcoming season tickets on sale in Colorado Springs, Colo….Wisconsin athletics is discussing some alteration of ticket prices for the 2012-13 academic year…Texas has revealed new practice gear for the 2012 campaign…Boise State continues many of its athletics upgrades, especially at the football stadium and gridiron practice venues…Army’s deadline for 2012 season ticket renewals is today (April 9), and the Black Knights emerged from spring practice with 17 healthy returning starters from ‘11…Tennessee’s April 21 Dish Orange-White spring contest will feature free admission as appreciation for Vols’ fan support…California’s 2012 stadium makeover is almost complete on the exterior…Arizona State has unveiled renderings for new Sun Devil Stadium with $300 million proposed renovations scheduled for completion in 2013 or ’14 and has denoted is 2012 season ticket prices and packages…Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field has introduced new hillside seating for the coming campaign…Montana will install permanent lighting at Washington-Grizzly Stadium…Grand Valley State football is ahead of schedule on its renovation of the campus stadium…Jacksonville State has set its spring intrasquad contest for April 13 with honorary game captains Rick and Greg Burgess from the nationally syndicated (XM and 50-plus commercial stations) “Rick and Bubba Show” – the Burgess brothers are the sons of JSU coaching legend Bill Burgess, for whom the university’s playing field is named.

Kansas athletics joined local families in erecting a Habitat for Humanity home in Lawrence…Texas Tech and Fort Worth (Texas) Nolan HS football student-athletes assisted in cleanup and passed out food and water at Red Cross stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex after last week’s tornado outbreak…Michigan athletics has started a unique mentoring program for football and other student-athletes…Queens (N.Y.) student-athletes paid a special visit to the New York Variety Boys and Girls Clubs with cheer and inspirational messages…Harvard athletics hosted a series of youth clinics in several sports last Saturday in Cambridge, Mass….Utah’s spring game tailgate contest is Best Barbeque during April 21 spring game activities with a panel of celebrity judges…UMass Lowell athletics helped raise $3,500 for the local Bowling for Wishes Foundation…Wisconsin-Parkside athletics has set dates for its Future Stars youth camps…Shepherd athletics hosted students from Shepherdstown Elementary School for fun and inspiration on campus…Southern New Hampshire athletics hosted faculty and exemplary student-athletes for a recent awards breakfast…Detroit Mercy athletics was the site of 2012 Special Olympics regional competition last weekend…Army athletics hosted a virtual holiday egg hunt via its website and enhanced video.

Texas head coach Mack Brown signed his contract extension through the 2020 season last week in Austin…Head coach Matt Campbell has finalized his initial five-year agreement with Toledo athletics…Montana named Mick Delaney interim head football coach and Jean Gee interim athletics director…Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino was hospitalized but did not suffer life-threatening injuries from a recent motorcycle mishap…Houston Baptist was scheduled to announce its first head coach at a news conference today (Monday) as HBU begins Southland Conference competition in 2014…Mike Levenseller is the new wide receivers coach at Idaho…Toledo hired four assistant coaches off Mt. Union’s (Ohio) 2011 staff – Matt Campbell, Jason Candle, Tom Manning, and Stan Watson…John Brown has been chosen as defensive coordinator at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo…T.C. McCartney, grandson of legendary Colorado coach and religion leader Bill McCartney, has joined CU’s 2012 staff as a graduate assistant coach…Northern Arizona named Rich Scangarello and Jeff Lewis to the assistant coaching crew…Assistant strength and conditioning coach Rex Bradberry of Georgia is leaving the staff to run a training program for U.S. Army Special Forces…Former Syracuse assistant coach Jimmy Brumbaugh has moved to the staff of NJCAA power East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss.

Jack Hayes has been named director of athletics at Brown…Former UTEP associate director of athletics Lisa Campos has been selected as vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Northern Arizona…Former Jacksonville U. AD Alan Verlander has been hired by the city of Jacksonville as director of sports and entertainment…Danny McCabe has been named interim AD at Hofstra…Melissa Ringhausen is now interim AD at McKendree…Akron vice president for development and former Ohio State and Youngstown State head coach Jim Tressel was on campus in Akron to discuss fundraising plans and on a fact-finding tour…Winston-Salem State is restructuring its athletics staff and programs…Longtime Massachusetts coach and athletics administrator Elaine Sortino is battling cancer.

The Sun Belt Conference has added Georgia State for football and all sports starting with the 2013-14 academic year. That will bring the number of FBS competitors to 124 schools (and possibly counting) for 2013 football. The SBC also had a national teleconference on the future of the league Monday afternoon…Chattanooga athletics has had informal discussions about moving to the Sun Belt at some juncture…Memphis, Tenn., figures in a major way as a site for future Conference USA or CUSA/Mountain West joint events in coming years…UTSA has thrown its name into the hat of possible additions for the new Conference USA/MWC alliance…West Virginia is adding a sport to be determined to comply with the Big 12 Conference’s mandated minimum offerings…The Big Ten (http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/archive/040512aaa.html) and Conference USA (http://www.conferenceusa.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/040512aag.html) spring football prospecti have been posted to their official websites and are available for access…All the Big Ten’s proposed football playoff scenarios include the Rose Bowl…South Carolina’s Michael Roth and Georgia’s Wendy Trott have been named the 2011-12 SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athletes of the Year…The Colonial Athletic Association has crafted a $1 million exit penalty for teams leaving the circuit unexpectedly.

The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl has its historic 10th annual spring kickoff on Thursday, May 10, at 4 p.m. at rejuvenated Amon Carter Stadium on TCU’s campus in Fort Worth. The BHAFB returns there in 2012 after a two-year reconstruction hiatus to Gerald R. Ford Stadium at SMU in Dallas…The Dallas City Council officially endorsed $25.5 million to renovate historic Cotton Bowl Stadium…The Memphis City Council, FedEx and Memphis athletics have put together a $9 million renovation package for Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

The BTN will carry 28 hours of spring football coverage this year and will air the April 21 Ohio State intrasquad game live at 1:30 p.m. (EDT) from Columbus…Last week’s Costas Tonight Show on NBC Sports Network featured a college athletics roundtable with NFF College Hall of Famer Doug Flutie, NCAA president Dr. Mark Emmert, BCS executive director Bill Hancock, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, USF AD Doug Woolard, sports agent Drew Rosenhaus, and former shoe company executive Sonny Vaccaro…ESPN3 will air Vanderbilt’s Saturday spring game and Mississippi State’s April 21 Super Bulldog Weekend intrasquad finale via videostreaming worldwide…The Mtn. will cease operations in June.

Florida’s quarterback situation appears to be a an almost-even race after solid showings by 2012 candidates Jacoby Brissett and Jeff Driskel in both last Saturday’s spring game and four weeks of practice…Southern California RB Tre Madden is expected to miss the entire 2012 campaign with a knee injury suffered last week. Soph D.J. Morgan and redshirt freshman Buck Allen hope to move up the depth chart as key replacements.…Wyoming QB Colby Kirkegaard was impressive in a recent scrimmage with 24-for-50 passing for 299 yards and three TDs…2011 Heisman Trophy recipient Robert Griffin III cheered on Baylor’s women’s basketball team, which finished the year at 40-0 (all-time college basketball mark for wins, all divisions) after downing Notre Dame for the 2011-12 NCAA title.

University of Calgary media relations director and assistant AD Jack Neumann has become the first Canadian to receive the prestigious CoSIDA Warren Berg Award for contribution to college athletics media relations…Longtime CoSIDA treasurer Dave Wohlhueter of Cornall has captured the prestigious 2012 COSIDA Lester Jordan Award, named for the longtime SMU sports information director who inaugurated academic All-America teams in 1952…2009 NFF go-Gold Medal recipient Phil Knight of Nike and Oregon joined former Southern Colorado (now Colorado State-Pueblo) athletics administrator Jessie Banks, NCAA officiating/rules administrator and Villanova legend Dr, Hank Nichols, Reggie Miller, coach Don Nelson, Ralph Sampson, Katrina McClain, Jamaal Wilkes, Mel Daniels, Don Barksdale, Lidia Alexeeva, and Chet Walker among the 2012 inductees into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame…Former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan (Notre Dame monogram winner) is the 2012 Moose Krause Distinguished Service Award recipient…Legendary McNeese State media relations director, CoSIDA Hall of Famer and 46-year veteran Louis Bonnette will retire this year. The man for whom the McNeese State football field surface is named will have a scholarship fund arranged in his honor by grateful friends.

Kansas State will break ground on Snyder Family Stadium upgrades on April 28 after a $5 million anonymous donation…Air Force athletics is beginning a $4.1 million facilities renovation project…Former Oklahoma RB standout Adrian Peterson has made a $1 million donation to athletics. OU marketing has welcome the first group of 2012 Sooner Fan Ambassadors…Collegiate Consulting introduced Rob Sine as president of ticket sales and service…Western State (Colo.) athletics netted $29,000 plus and had over 325 attendees at its 11th annual Crab Fest to benefit scholarships…Arkansas athletics is introducing new e-ticketing procedures for 2012…Neulion and Western Michigan athletics have teamed for a new WMU sports highlights cellphone application…Sports Video Group has continued its online reporting about innovations at several NCAA championship events in 2011-12…Strategic Marketing Affiliates has launched a new hologram label and hang tag recognition program online…Loyola (Chicago) will hold its annual athletics golf fundraiser on Aug. 21.

The NCAA and Collegiate Licensing Company have partnered to guard authentic NCAA marks and logos at several recent championships, including the 2011 FCS championship in Frisco, Texas…Seton Hall athletics and Nelligan Sports have formed a ticketing and marketing partnership…The National Association of Athletic Development Directors named as 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award St. Thomas (Minn.) executive vice president and COO Mark Dienhart and as ’12 Fundraiser of the Year Award SMU associate AD for external affairs Tim Leonard…Several university and colleges athletics departments are looking for “red flags” and setting school usage standards for Twitter and Facebook…The NCAA and participating division members hosted Division III Appreciation Week.

Reservations still are being accepted for the Monday, April 16, NFF Gridiron Club of Dallas annual Awards Banquet at the Addison Marriott Quorum via (phone) 469-878-5370 or email: gerald.brence@pisd.edu…The Emo DiNitto/Rhode Island Chapter will hold its 25th Golden Dozen Scholar-Athletes Awards Dinner on May 7 at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick, R.I. Brown athletics director Mike Goldberger will receive the chapter’s Distinguished American Award…Curry head football coach Skip Bandini will receive the 2012 Ron Burton Distinguished American Award from the NFF Jack Grinold/Eastern Massachusetts Chapter on May 14 in Randolph, Mass…The first regional NFF chapters began operation in 1959, and there are seven new or renewed chapters in the works for 2012: The South Florida (Miami) Touchdown Club has chartered and is active this year. Also in the final planning stages are Baton Rouge, La.; Central Coast/Pebble Beach, Calif.; Southwest Virginia Touchdown Club; Greater Orlando; Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Central Illinois (Normal and surrounding areas), and (in continued discussion stages) the NFF’s first international chapter in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. For additional information about these new membership and leadership opportunities, please go to Footballfoundation.com/chapters.

Key NFF Dates for 2012-13
May 15 – Announcement of the 2012 Football Bowl Subdivision inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame – New York City
May 22 – Announcement of the 2012 Divisional Inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame, Dallas
July 20-21, 2012 – College Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival – South Bend, Ind.
Sept. 27, 2012 – Announcement of the 2012 Campbell Trophy Semifinalists – Dallas
Oct. 25, 2012 – Announcement of the 2012 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class presented by Fidelity Investments and Campbell Trophy Finalists – Dallas
Tuesday, Dec. 4 – The 55th Annual NFF Awards Dinner News Conference at the Waldorf=Astoria – New York, N.Y., 9 a.m. (EST), tentative start
Dec. 4 – The 55th Annual NFF Awards Dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria – New York. 6:45 p.m. (EST)
Dec. 4 – The 23rd Presentation of William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, to the nation’s top senior scholar-athlete at the Waldorf=Astoria, New York
Jan. 2, 2013 – National Hall of Fame Salute at the Allstate Sugar Bowl – New Orleans, La.
Jan. 7, 2013 – Presentation of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award – Miami, Fla.
Jan. 8, 2013 – MacArthur Bowl Presentation to the BCS National Champion – Miami, Fla.

2013 BCS Schedule (All Times TBD)
Jan. 1 – Rose Bowl presented by VIZIO, Pasadena, Calif., ESPN
Jan. 1 – Discover Orange Bowl, Miami, Fla., ESPN
Jan. 2 – Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans, La., ESPN
Jan. 3 – Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Ariz., ESPN
Jan. 7 – Discover National Championship Game, Miami, ESPN