BOSTON -- Bates College senior captain
Tony Hooks was awarded the 76th Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Award, the fourth oldest award in college football, by the Gridiron Club of Boston on Monday.
The "Swede" was first given in 1946 for "exceptional achievement in sportsmanship, academics, and athletics," and is preceded only by the Heisman, Maxwell and the Gridiron Club's own George "Bulger" Lowe award among college football accolades, according to the club.
Hooks (New Rochelle, N.Y.) and
Mark Upton '17 are the only two Bobcats ever to win the
Swede, which is given annually to one player from a Bowl/Championship Division player and one player from Divisions II or III. Hooks joins Boston College graduate linebacker Vinny DePalma as this year's Swede awardees.
Hooks will be honored as part of an all-star slate of players, coaches and officials at the Gridiron Club's annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards Night on Monday, December 19 at the Marriott Hotel in Burlington, Mass. The "Bulger" award, known as "New England's Heisman Trophy," will go to Boston College senior wide receiver Xavien "Zay" Flowers for offense and Harvard defensive lineman and team captain Truman Jones for defense.
Hooks, a first team All-NESCAC selection in 2021, was one of the top tacklers in all of NCAA Division III this season, ranking 11th in the country at 11.3 tackles per game. He led the NESCAC in tackles back-to-back seasons to cap off his collegiate career. On October 15th against Bowdoin, Hooks broke a more than 20-year old Bates record for tackles in one game, tallying 23 in a win over the Polar Bears.
In addition to sporting a 3.7 GPA on a 4.0 scale, Hooks has served as president of the Bates College Investment Club. He led a Bone Marrow Drive on campus that registered 334 new donors in 2022. He is a leader in the Bates Athletes of Color Coalition and a member of the Bates Athletics Agents of Change, which focuses on social injustices at the college, and in the community as a whole. He has also volunteered with Meals on Wheels America and the MLK Center in Newport, R.I.
Earlier this season, Hooks was named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy for scholar-athletes.
