The Paul Hornung Award

Louisville, Ky. – February 18, 2016 – The Louisville Sports Commission announced that David Baker, Pro Football Hall of Fame President, will be the featured speaker at the sixth annual Paul Hornung Award Banquet presented by KentuckyOne Health. The banquet will be held Feb. 25 at the Galt House in downtown Louisville.

The banquet will honor Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, who earned the 2015 Paul Hornung Award by setting an NCAA single season record with 3,864 all-purpose yards as a running back, slot receiver, quarterback and return specialist. He will be joined at the banquet by his parents, Lisa and Ed McCaffrey, and former Award winners Shaq Thompson, Brandon Boykin and Owen Marecic.

In January 2014, Baker was named the sixth president in the 52-year history of the prestigious Hall of Fame whose mission is to “Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE.” Under Baker’s leadership, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is currently undergoing a $476 million development project of the Hall’s campus in Canton, Ohio. Hall of Fame Village will include eight main components including enhancements to the museum, a world-class stadium and sports entertainment complex, youth sports center, four-star hotel and conference center, restaurants and retail, a Center for Excellence to include corporate management programs, performance and safety center, coaches university and officiating academy, Legends Landing (an independent and assisted living facility), and a Hall of Fame/NFL Experience entertainment complex.

“It’s an incredible honor for me to speak at a banquet that bears the name of Paul Hornung, a true Hero of the Game who was enshrined in Canton in 1986. Paul exemplifies the many great values learned from the game,” Baker said. “What makes this opportunity even more special is coming to Paul’s hometown of Louisville to celebrate the excellence achieved by Christian McCaffrey in 2015. The Hall of Fame applauds the legacy and goodwill that the Paul Hornung Award has created in six short years.”

One of college football’s most dynamic players in 2015, McCaffrey parlayed his speed and quickness with sheer determination to record a season for the ages and an abundance of post-season honors: Associated Press Player of the Year; Consensus All-American, Academic All-American; MVP of the Rose Bowl and the Pac-12 Championship games; Pac-12 Player of the Year; second in voting for the Heisman Trophy; and finalist for the Davey O’Brien, Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards.

McCaffrey finished the year with eight touchdowns rushing, five receiving, one on a kick return, one on a punt return and he threw two touchdown passes. During the regular season, he recorded 200+ all-purpose yards in four games, 300+ all-purpose yards in four games, and set Stanford records with 10 consecutive games of 100+ rushing yards and 243 rushing yards in a single game.

With focus and determination and remarkable success in big games reminiscent of the Golden Boy himself, McCaffrey put his versatility on display for the entire nation with a pair of spectacular performances in the post season: in the Pac-12 championship win over USC, he recorded a school record 461 all-purpose yards – 207 rushing, 105 receiving, 120 in kick returns and 29 in punt returns, and accounted for a touchdown rushing, receiving and passing. In Stanford’s 45-16 Rose Bowl win over Iowa, he totaled a record 368 all-purpose yards, including a 75-yard touchdown reception and a 68-yard punt return for a touchdown, and became the first player in the storied 102-year history of the Rose Bowl to gain more than 100 yards rushing and receiving.