Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Athletic Excellence Celebrated

Dartmouth held a virtual edition of its annual Celebration of Athletic Excellence earlier this week and football's Isiah Swann and Brandon Hester won two of the major awards. (Dartmouth Release)

Swann, an All-America corner, was presented with the Alfred E. Watson Trophy as Dartmouth's top male student-athlete. Find his Dartmouth football bio HERE.

Hester was presented with the Timothy Wright Ellis 1955 Memorial as "the man showing extracurricular and scholastic drive, spirit, loyalty and amiability." Nominations and voting is done by the captains of the men's teams. Find his Dartmouth football bio HERE.

From the Dartmouth release on Hester:
While injuries stifled his development on the gridiron, Hester never changed the outgoing, gregarious personality that defined him on campus. He was a teammate who always looked out for the best in other people and gave his best effort for the betterment of the team. A co-founder of the Dartmouth Real Estate Club, Hester was also involved with Thetford Mentors as well as the Aspire-STEPS program, plus was a member of the Christian Union. On top of that, he is essentially a campus barber, giving out haircuts to people in need of sharpening up. His head coach, Buddy Teevens, had this to say about Hester: "He is a loyal friend who makes people feel immediately at ease. When reading the description of this award, Brandon instantly came to my mind. He is so deserving as his positive presence has touched so many parts of campus."
And on Swann:
Despite missing the first three games of the season with various injuries, Swann was once again a tremendous presence on the defensive side of the ball. He led the Ancient Eight in interceptions — even with the missed playing time — and ranked among the top 20 nationally in passes defended. It was his interception in the end zone during the final seconds of the season finale at Brown that clinched Dartmouth's record 19th Ivy League title with the 29-23 victory. Swann was an All-American for the second straight year as determined by the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association and STATS, while being named one of the 25 finalists across the country for the defensive player of the year award. A unanimous All-Ivy League First Team selection and a member of the Division I All-New England Team for the second consecutive season, he set program records for interceptions in a season and a career as well as career pick-sixes. After the season, Swann became the first Big Green player in 16 years to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl, then was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as a free agent. 
Like other award winners, the football players were featured on Twitter accepting their awards:



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The screenshot posted below is from Draft Diamonds, which promotes players from smaller schools. It cracks me up, not because Drew Estrada isn't deserving. He absolutely is.

Rather because of the headline. You will see Dartmouth University surprisingly often but not usually in such big, bold type. Check out the full Q&A with Estrada HERE.
Green Alert Take: A note to potential recruits. When you Tweet about your "offer," it's from Dartmouth College. Funniest I've seen was one prospective Big Green player who referred to an offer from "The University of Dartmouth College."
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Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens is going to have a little extra time on his hands with breaking news that the Manning Passing Academy, scheduled for next month in Thibodaux, La., has been canceled because of the pandemic. (LINK) Teevens is the camp co-director.
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EXTRA POINT
Sadly, the famous Tunbridge World's Fair is yet another victim of the pandemic, being called off for just the third time in 150 years.

What, you didn't know the World's Fair is held each September in a small Vermont town just about a half hour from the Dartmouth campus? Here's proof:


Watch the Tunbridge World's Fair video HERE to understand the venerable fair's place in time and get a sense about rural Vermont life then and now.
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