Hassan Thompson Named Troy Barboza Courage Award Winner

Congratulations to Hassan Thompson for winning the Troy Barboza Courage Award!  Former Pioneer Troy Barboza was enjoying a succesful career in law enforcement when he was involved in a major drug bust as an undercover detective.  Days before he was scheduled to testify for the case, Barboza was murdered inside of his home.  Because of the great display of courage Troy showed during his time at Grinnell, as well as during his time in law enforcement, we have honored his memory with this award each year since 1993.  Notable past winners include Troy Dougherty (All American), Zack Fletcher, Nick Merklin, Tom Brinkman (who were all recognized as all-conference and all pursued a career in coaching and teaching) and Carson Dunn (last year’s winner).

In 2017 Hassan enjoyed his best season yet, recording 61 total tackles, 33 of them solo, 6 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble recoveries and a blocked punt.  In week 2 against Trinity, Hassan's blocked punt traveled out of the back of the end zone for our first points of the game, giving us the momentum we needed to eventually come away with the 15-6 win.

Hassan was part of a start-up football program in high school, and was the heart and soul of that team.  He came to Grinnell all the way from New Orleans, relying on his coaches and teammates to help ease the transition, while leaving family behind.  He's grown as a person and as a leader each year, he's since moved his family here to Grinnell, and he's now one of the guys welcoming younger guys and mentoring them through their first weeks and months on campus.  We're incredibly proud of all Hassan has accomplished at Grinnell, and we're anxious to see what he does next year in his senior season.  Congratulations Hassan!

2016 Postseason Awards - Carson Dunn

Junior Carson Dunn was named the winner of the Troy Barboza Most Courageous award.  Troy played at Grinnell in the mid-80's, and upon graduating had taken up a career in law enforcement in Hawaii.  In October of 1987, Barboza was scheduled to testify as part of a large undercover sting operation, when he was murdered by another drug dealer.  The Pioneers have honored the memory of  the fallen officer by naming a Most Courageous player each year.

Based on his service to the campus community, as well as his play on the field, Carson Dunn made for a worthy recipient of the Barboza award.  Carson is a member of Grinnell SALSC (Student-Athletes Leading Social Change), he presented at the Apple Conference and to the Grinnell College community on ways to use student-athletes to promote sexual respect, and he was voted a team captain in December.  On the field, Carson was arguably the most versatile player we had this past year.  He took snaps at tight end, running back, slot receiver, quarterback, kick returner, and (believe it or not!) cornerback.  We're hoping he'll be able to focus his efforts on a single position this year, but Carson rushed for 371 yards and 2 td's, including two 100-yard rushing performances, and caught 28 passes for 262 yards and another score.  He also averaged over 18 yards per kick off return and recorded 12 tackles on kick and punt coverage.  Carson was obviously very busy last year, and the courage and determination with which he played was evident to all on his own team, as well as his opponents.  He is a worthy recipient of the Troy Barboza Most Courageous award.