October 23, 2009

National Football Foundation to honor Jim Vruggink

The co-founder of the National Football Foundation's Joe Tiller Chapter of Northwest Indiana will receive the NFF's Chapter Leadership Award at the organization's annual chapter awards luncheon on Dec. 8 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

Jim Vruggink, who helped Joe Tiller start the local chapter in 2003, is now its executive director. A longtime Purdue administrator, Vruggink also serves as director of special projects, advertising manager and assistant manager of trademark licensing in Purdue's Office of Marketing and Media.

He will receive one of five Chapter Leadership Awards being given nationally by the NFF. At the same luncheon, former West Lafayette High School quarterback Matt Lancaster will be recognized as one of the NFF's 2009 scholar-athletes of the year. Lancaster now is a member of the Illinois State University football team.

"The National Football Foundation is a wonderful organization that does important work in promoting the sport and helping young scholar-athletes continue their education," Vruggink said. "Working with the NFF has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my career. It is a tremendous bonus to receive this honor for doing something I love."

Bart Burrell, president of the board of the Joe Tiller Chapter, said, "Without Jim's leadership, our chapter would not exist. Because of his energy, dedication and talent, it has become one of the strongest chapters in the country. He deserves to be honored with one of the NFF's highest awards."

Under Vruggink's leadership the Joe Tiller Chapter quickly grew to become the fifth-largest among the NFF's 120 chapters. It has awarded more than $82,000 in scholarships and honorariums during its first six years of existence.

The National Football Foundation was founded in 1947 as a nonprofit organization by Army football coach Earl "Red" Blaik, sportswriter Grantland Rice and Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Its mission is to promote and develop amateur football and to cultivate leadership, sportsmanship, enthusiasm for competition and the drive for academic excellence among America's youth. The NFF also operates and oversees the College Football Hall of Fame.

For more information about the Joe Tiller Chapter, contact Vruggink at jvruggink@purdue.edu or (765) 427-3303.