Released: Oct. 28, 1999
Demmerle wins national scholar-athlete award
DANVILLE, KY - Cam Demmerle, a Centre College noseguard who was a stellar prep player and class valedictorian at Beechwood High School, is one of fifteen college football players in the nation named today by the National Football Foundation for 1999 Scholar-Athlete Awards. Demmerle will receive an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship and will be formally honored Dec. 7 at a black-tie dinner in New York.
The fifteen players were chosen from all divisions of the NCAA and the NAIA, but only two players were chosen from Division III -- Demmerle and Craig Pierstorff of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Nine of the winners came from NCAA Division 1 schools, including Ahmed Plummer of Ohio State and Chad Pennington of Marshall.
According to Jon F. Hanson, chairman of the board for the National Football Foundation, Demmerle will receive an expense-paid trip to New York for the awards ceremony, which is to be a black-tie dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The foundation also plans a New York press conference to introduce the honorees.
A four-year starter for the Centre defense, Demmerle has twice made the all-conference team in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. This year he was a pre-season conference pick for defensive player of the year. During the 1998 season, he recorded 76 tackles, including 11 for loses and six sacks. In the 1999 season through six games, Demmerle has had 12 tackles, including one sack and four tackles for lost yards.
At Beechwood, where Demmerle also played at noseguard, he was team captain in his senior year and helped lead the squad to three state titles during his four years of playing.
Centre Head Coach Andy Frye says Demmerle's work ethic may be his greatest asset. "At 227 pounds, he's not the biggest man on our squad," says Frye, "but in his sophomore year he squatted an incredible 630 pounds to become our strongest player." Frye adds that, off the field,
Demmerle is "a model leader and a model student."
Demmerle is earning a double major in religion and economics at Centre, and he plans to attend graduate school in either law or religion. Whichever he chooses, the Football Foundation scholarship can be applied. The terms of the scholarship allow Demmerle to apply it to the college or university of his choice.
Along with his academic and athletic achievements at Centre, Demmerle has served as chaplain for the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and a volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters. He was chosen for membership in Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership organization. Demmerle has made the dean's list and maintains a 3.65 grade point average. He received the Bartlett Memorial Scholarship and the John Howard Duff Prize.
Earlier this year, Demmerle was named a Burger King Scholar-Athlete of the Week. In 1998, he made the GTE Academic All-Region second team.
Centre has had three Burger King Scholar-Athlete award-winners in the last four football seasons, and all three were products of Northern Kentucky high schools. The other winners were Adam Crawford, a Ft. Thomas graduate, honored during the 1996 season, and Matt Hummel, a Covington Catholic graduate, honored during the 1997 season.
Demmerle's parents are Margaret Stewart of Mason, Ohio, and Daniel Demmerle of Anderson Township, Ohio.
Earlier this year, a Centre alumnus, Jack C. "Teel" Bruner was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. A 1986 graduate, Bruner set a Division III record by snaring five interceptions in a single game. He is now a family physician in Cottonwood, Idaho.
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Complete list of 1999 Scholar-Athletes
National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame
NCAA Division I-A
Terrence Anderson (OC), U.S. Naval Academy
Mark Baniewicz (OT), Syracuse
David Brcka (LB), Iowa State
Shaun Castillo (TE), U.S. Military Academy
Keith Cockrum (SS), Texas Tech
Chad Morton (TB), Southern California
Chad Pennington (QB), Marshall
Ahmed Plummer (CB), Ohio State
Robbie Renes (NT), Michigan
NCAA Division I-AA
William Broussard (OC), Northwestern
Giovannie Carmazzi (QB), Hofstra
Mike Wynne (OL), Massachusetts
NCAA Division II
Corte McGuffey (QB), Northern Colorado
NCAA Division III
Cameron Demmerle (NG), Centre College
Craig Pierstorff (LB), Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422
Coordinator of Public Information: Patsi Barnes Trollinger
Telephone 606-238-5719 · trllngrp@centre.edu
Sports information: Ed Rall.
Telephone 606-238-5489