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 award is named in memory of the seven former Ferrum Junior College football players and Coach Rick Tolley who perished in Marshall University football team airline tragedy in November of 1970:
- Coach Rick Tolley
- Thomas W. Brown
- David D. Griffith
- Patrick J. Norrell
- James R. Patterson
- Arthur K. Shannon
- Jerry D. Stainback, Jr.
- Thomas J. Zborill
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, winning Ferrum's second national championship. Ferrum would win two additional national titles before joining the NCAA Division III ranks in 1985.
In 1994, the College inducted these eight men into its Alumni Sports Hall Fame Inaugural Class. A special plaque hangs in the Ferrum College trophy room today with each player's and Coach Tolley's photo and 1968 National Championship ring. Inscribed on the plaque is the following statement:
"In recognition of these special athletes who perished in the Marshall University Airplane Crash on November 14, 1970. Their accomplishments and dedication to the Ferrum College athletics program will long be remembered by Ferrum College, their families, their friends, and their teammates that shared in the honor of being the 1968 NJCAA National Champions. May they be in God's hands for eternity."
Big Green Award Annual Winners
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
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1991 - John Sheets, Cecil Phillips
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
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Matt Dobson
2009 Big Green Award recipient
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BIG GREEN ROOM
Ferrum College's weight room, located on the lower level of Swartz Gymnasium and which was given a major facelift in the summer of 2001, is named the
Big Green Room in honor of the seven former Ferrum football players players and Coach Tolley who perished in the Marshall University airline tragedy.
The Big Green Room houses eight power racks (each with 0-90 degree benches), dumbbell stations, two free-standing benches, two incline benches, and leg/hip/neck machines, all spread out over approximately 2,000 square feet of space. On the south wall hangs a listing of football weight room records.
WE ARE MARSHALL
Warner Bros. and Thunder Road Pictures produced a feature film called We Are Marshall about the crash and Marshall's struggle to field a team in the ensuing years. The movie premiered in December 2006 in Huntington, West Virginia, the site of Marshall University and the plane crash.
http://www.marshall.edu/movie