The late Aaron Feis (represented by wife Melissa) and Jason Seaman were honored with the NFF Gold Medal. They are seen with hall of fame quarterback Roger Staubach (center). Photo courtesy of National Football Foundation/Ben Solomon

NEW YORK – The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame presented its prestigious Gold Medal to former football players Aaron Feis (posthumously) and Jason Seaman in recognition of their exceptional heroism in the face of extreme adversity. Both Feis, who was represented by his wife Melissa, and Seaman placed their lives in the line of fire this year to protect the lives of young students during two recent school shootings. The presentation took place during the 61st NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City.

“Both these men played football and both subsequently choose to give back as football coaches in their respective communities,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “And when confronted with extreme personal peril, both men ran toward danger rather than away from it, exhibiting amazing concern for others at astonishing risk to themselves. Both Aaron and Jason took the gridiron’s lessons of self-sacrifice and instinctively put them into action under the most trying of circumstances, and we are extremely proud to add their names to the esteemed list of past NFF Gold Medal recipients.”

The highest and most prestigious award presented by the National Football Foundation, the Gold Medal recognizes outstanding Americans who have demonstrated integrity and honesty and reflected the basic values of those who have excelled in amateur sport, particularly football. First presented to President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the First NFF Annual Awards Dinner in 1958, the Gold Medal boasts an impressive list of past recipients, including seven presidents, four generals, three admirals, one Supreme Court Justice, 29 corporate CEOs and chairmen, actor John Wayne and baseball immortal Jackie Robinson. Feis and Seaman become the 64th and 65th recipients of the NFF Gold Medal. (See below for the full list of past recipients.)

The awards were presented by NFF Vice Chairman and TV personality Jack Ford and NFF Board Member Roger Staubach, a College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Navy who received the Gold Medal in 2007. This year’s Gold Medals honor Feis, a football coach and security guard at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who died shielding students during the shooting in February, and Seaman, a science teacher and middle school football coach at Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Indiana, who tackled a shooter who entered his classroom in May, preventing any casualties.

The presentation received a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd of more than 1,600 people, which included numerous sports legends, athletics administrators and many of our nation’s top business leaders.

“[Aaron Feis and Jason Seaman] certainly did not wake up in the morning to become heroes, but they certainty fit the definition as outlined by famed scholar Joseph Campbell as someone who is willing to give his or her life to something bigger than oneself,” Ford said when introducing Feis and Seaman. “It’s a definition that defines every successful football team, and Aaron and Jason more than deserve to be recognized for their selfless acts this year as football players and coaches who took the lessons of the gridiron and turned them into reality in the most trying of situations.”