The Ferrum College Football
Big Green Award is given annually to a senior Panther football player who best demonstrates the qualities of courage, hustle, and desire as a role model for his fellow teammates. The Big Green Award is in memory of the seven former Ferrum Junior College football players and Coach Rick Tolley who perished in the Marshall University football team plabe crash in November of 1970.
All seven players and Coach Rick Tolley were members of Ferrum's National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Championship team in 1968. The Panthers went 10-0 that season, in winning Ferrum's second national championship. Ferrum would win two additional national titles before joining the NCAA Division III ranks in 1985. In 1994, Ferrum College inducted these eight men into its Sports Hall Fame Inaugural Class. A special plaque hangs in the Hank Norton Center football office in honor of these eight men. Additionally, Ferrum's weight room is named the Big Green Room.
In January 2007, Ferrum's Athletic Department hosted a private screening of the movie "We Are Marshall", a film which chronicles the crash and Marshall's struggle to field a team in the ensuing years. Horace Green, a team captain on the 1968 Ferrum football team, spoke prior to the show, describing the Marshall-Ferrum connection.
Ferrum's Men Lost in November 1970 Marshall Plane Crash
Thomas W. Brown, David D. Griffith, Patrick J. Norrell, James R. Patterson, Arthur K. Shannon, Jerry D. Stainback, Jr., Coach Rick Tolley, Thomas J. Zborill
1970 Marshall University Football Team
Annual Recipients
1971 Jim Hottle |
1972 Jim Grobe |
1973 Richard Greene |
1974 Mike Antonopoulos |
1975 Gary Wells |
1976 Johny Douglas |
1977 Ed Lewis |
1978 Billy Jarvis |
1979 Bernie West |
1980 Rob Stanley |
1981 Leno Ilardo |
1982 Frank Rossi |
1983 Ricky Cruze |
1984 Randy Harper |
1985 Mark McGlothlin |
1986 Mark Federovitch |
1987 Nathan Scott |
1988 Greg Thurman |
1989 Paul Scott White |
1990 Kevin Sherman |
1991 John Sheets, Cecil Philips |
1992 Kirt Studevant |
1993 Ray Brown |
1994 Ray Brawley, Chris Glascock |
1995 David Waddell |
1996 Kevin Slough |
1997 Derrick Hollins |
1998 J.C. Harmon |
1999 James Puryear, Charles Spangler |
2000 Randy Anderson |
2001 Greg Middleton |
2002 Matt Stinson |
2003 Chris Ward |
2004 George Masten |
2005 Dustin Hamoy, Alvin Jones |
2006 Jermaine Pitts |
2007 Shaun Green |
2008 Nic King |
2009 Matt Dobson |
2010 John Branch |
2011 Steven Harris |
2012 Scott Puschell, Kenny Tapscott |
2013 Wes Franklin |
2014 Anthony Orton |
2015 Thomas Betts |
2016 Anthony Konieczka |
2017 Alveno Matthews |
2018 Lawrence Baranski III |
2019 Jordan Patti |
2020 Cade Rouse |
2021 Tanner Kennedy |
2022 Conner Sides |
2023 Terrance Scales |
2024 Christian Sorrells
