Here's the lede to a Denver Post story about running back Q Jones winning the Gold Helmet Award, "presented annually to the state’s top football player, scholar-athlete and citizen, someone who embodies excellence on and off the field:"
In Fountain-Fort Carson’s season opener last fall, Alexisius “Q” Jones Jr. took the first handoff and ripped through the left side of the line. The Trojans’ tailback deked one defender and then outran another en route to an effortless 33-yard touchdown.That’s when Jones dropped to a knee and bowed his head in unbridled emotion as his teammates mobbed him.The Dartmouth pledge wasn’t just celebrating the score. He was lost in the moment thinking of all he had been through to have a chance to show his talent. And he was setting the stage for a season that culminated in him winning the 2020 Denver Post Gold Helmet Award.
Jones led the state of Colorado with 1,853 rushing yards, with 20 touchdowns and a 9.9-yard average per carry, but his story is bigger than that. Much bigger.
Watch a 10-minute interview with Jones, including some eye-popping highlights:
Jones will be one of two premier Colorado running backs at Dartmouth this fall. He joins rising junior Noah Roper, who led the state in scoring and came within a yard of leading it in rushing as a senior while finishing as one of five finalists for the Gold Helmet.
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A reminder that a story with brief bios of all of Dartmouth's incoming recruits – featuring comments from coach Buddy Teevens – will be posted on BGA Premium tonight. CLICK HERE to visit the site. The story will be in the pull-down menu under the heading, 2021 Spring.
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At the end of March I wrote about former wide receiver Daniel Gorman '16 earning admittance to medical school and why that was so special to me and our entire family. The Reader's Digest version of that Extra Point is that Daniel spent more nights at our home than I can count as That Certain Nittany Lion '16's best buddy growing up – so many nights that he kept a toothbrush at our house – and that I coached him both in Little League and a little with his mom on the hardwood. (LINK)
Daniel was always a terrific athlete and this may be a cliché but it's true – he's an even better person. It's why he won the Dartmouth athletic department's Timothy Wright Ellis 1955 Memorial Award, "given to a man showing extracurricular and scholastic drive, spirit, loyalty and amiability (as) nominated and voted on by the captains of the men’s teams."
And why he was was presented with my all-time favorite award, the football program's Manners Makyth Man Award "given each year to the player who best conducted himself to the advantage of Dartmouth and displayed good manners in the sense of William Wykeham's phrase, 'Manners Makyth Man.' "
We were in Massachusetts yesterday helping our good friends the Gormans celebrate Daniel's wedding to former Dartmouth runner Maya Jarostchuk '17 with That Certain Nittany Lion '16 serving as a groomsman.
If the Jarostchuk name is familiar it might be because Maya's dad Alex joined brothers Ilia (a former New England Patriot) and Basil on the University of New Hampshire's famed "Russian Front." From a New Hampshire alumni magazine story about the trio of defenders (LINK):
In UNH football, it's not often that members of the defense team psych out opponents by speaking Russian. But for the Jarostchuk brothers, who played Wildcat football in the late '80s, a comment like "Ya vozmu sorok shest—A ti vozmi tritsatz dva!" (I'll take 46—you take 32!) while waiting for the snap was a fun way to unnerve the opposition.
The Russian piece came into play yesterday as Maya's father used his booming voice to help conduct the traditional Russian wedding ceremony. The culture was on full display again during the reception when Daniel and Maya were celebrated by, among other guests, a group of former Dartmouth football players from around the country who were as entertained as were all of us who were at our first Russian reception:
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EXTRA POINT
If you've been regularly reading the PAT you might remember a previous post about return address labels and how I shook my head at Mrs. BGA actually spending money to buy a few sheets of them when we moved from Hanover (Etna) to our little Vermont hillside town. (LINK)
If you've been regularly reading the PAT you might remember a previous post about return address labels and how I shook my head at Mrs. BGA actually spending money to buy a few sheets of them when we moved from Hanover (Etna) to our little Vermont hillside town. (LINK)
The pile of unsolicited labels has only continued to grow. Last week I needed one of the stickers and it turned out that our cache of the things hasn't diminished much even with my recycling virtually every one we have received in the past year. Ironically, most continue to be from national parks and conservancy advocacy groups.
