Football Team Wins Top National Honor

OTTAWA, Kan. - The Ottawa University Braves football team won the 2011 Buffalo Funds Five Star Champions of Character Award, which recognizes one college team in every sport for “exemplary character and sportsmanship displayed during practice, competition, on campus, and in the community.” The Champions of Character program, developed by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), teaches student-athletes the importance of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership.

“The committee felt the number of service activities the Ottawa University football team participated in and the numerous partnerships garnered throughout the year was quite impressive,” said Dennis Green, NAIA's manager of championship sports. “The committee also noted the reach of the Braves' activities was not limited to only Ottawa, but the region as well.”

Jacob Johnson, a senior quarterback for the Braves, put into perspective the importance of character in sports by sharing one of his favorite quotes by John Wooden: “Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”

“I truly feel that character is a vital trait to have on any team, especially our football team,” said Johnson. “Successful teams always have individual leaders of high character.”

The Braves live out their mission of being involved in the community and serving others by participating in a variety of service programs, some of which they initiated, such as Shoulder Pads and Paragraphs (a reading program at local elementary schools) and Youth Day (in 2011 more than 160 youth from kindergarten through sixth grade participated in a free football clinic and were admitted to the Saturday game at no charge). Other community involvement included volunteering at:

• Hope House, the community food bank
• Ottawa Optimist Club (distributed dictionaries to fourth graders at Garfield Elementary School)
• Clean Up Joplin (assisted with clean-up following the E5 tornado)
• SWIPE Out Hunger (packaged, loaded and unloaded meals for the Horn of Africa)
• ECKAN (assisted in the building of a handicap-accessible playground in Kanza Park in Ottawa, Kansas)
• Red Ribbon Week Speakers (two seniors spoke about being drug free and the importance of working together to achieve goals)
• Franklin County Cancer Foundation (promoted cancer awareness and screenings)

Head Coach Kent Kessinger is extremely proud of the character displayed by the Braves. “The great John Wooden said, 'Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.' Our team leaders are those that have talent, but their greatest asset is how strong they are in character,” said Kessinger. “Our staff puts a lot of responsibility on our upperclassmen to not only lead our current team of 90 plus players but to also hold true to our team motto of “ONE.” Since adopting this creed, our team has a combined record of 36-7, won the 2009 and 2011 KCAC Championship, and has made it to three straight NAIA Playoff appearances. Without the increased focus on servant leadership in our program, we would not have had the success that our program has been blessed with.

This is the first team in Ottawa University history to receive this prestigious award.