DALLAS, Texas, Oct. 12, 2010 - The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced today the five winners of the 2010 NFF National High School Scholar-Athlete Awards with each recipient selected as the best of the best from their region of the country at the high school level. The five winners, who are now playing college football, are being recognized solely for their previous accomplishments in high school.

Harvard's Ricky Zorn was the South Region winner coming out of Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas and the NFF Gridiron Club of Dallas Chapter. Zorn is in his freshman season with the Crimson.  

Joining Zorn were Max Aaron Coale (Princeton), Lonnie Hackett (Bowdoin), Tevin Hood (Duke) and Danile Wodicka (Johns Hopkins).

Setting a bar that will be difficult to reach, Ricky Zorn built an exceptional and impressive legacy at Lake Highlands High School that extends far beyond the accomplishments of all but the most gifted student-athletes.

A three-year letterman at quarterback and a two-time captain, Zorn earned District 9-5A MVP honors as a junior and a senior on the gridiron. He received Lake Highlands' All-Around Skills award, selected by the Wildcat coaching staff, as a junior.

As a junior, Zorn completed 106 of 193 passes for 1,889 yards and 23 touchdowns, while rushing 164 times for 1,229 yards and 21 scores. In his senior campaign, Zorn connected on 93 of 154 passes for 1,584 yards and 18 touchdowns, gained 1,124 yards rushing with another 12 touchdowns. In all, Zorn accumulated 5,826 yards of total offense and scored 74 touchdowns.

In the classroom, Zorn ranked second in a class of 494 students with a GPA of 102.38 on a 100-point scale. He was selected to the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta. He was chosen as the Youth of the Month by the Exchange Club of Lake Highlands for excellence in academics, leadership and community service.

Zorn also established himself as a leader off the field and beyond the classroom. He served as vice president of the World Affairs Club; participated as a member of the Lake Highlands Student Council for four years; and played a role in the Richardson Independent School District Bi-Racial Committee. Selected for the Professional Internship Program during his senior year, he interned at Morgan Keegan, a brokerage and investment banking firm, during the fall semester.

"Ricky Zorn is the athlete every coach would like to have on his team," said Lake Highlands head coach Scott Smith. "His athletic ability speaks for itself, but there is more to Ricky than just athletics. He was very active in his school as well, and he was very involved in his church and with Young Life Ministries as a youth leader in both of those ministries. Ricky was highly involved in many activities and still carried a 102.38 GPA and was ranked number two in a class of 492. The character and leadership abilities that Ricky Zorn possesses are unmatched in my 19-year career as a high school football coach. It was my honor and privilege to have worked with Ricky Zorn."

Selected from the 400,000 high school football players covered by the NFF Chapter Network, the five scholar-athletes will be honored for their high school accomplishments during the NFF Chapter Awards Luncheon Tuesday, December 7, 2010, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. First bestowed in 1991, the NFF National High School Scholar-Athlete Awards have become one of the most prestigious high school honors in the country. Criteria for the award include but are not limited to academic achievement, athletic accomplishments and leadership in the community.

With 120 outposts and more than 12,000 members, the NFF Chapter Network covers more than 4,800 high schools and 400,000 student-athletes in 47 states, annually analyzing the credentials of the top student-athletes from each of their regions. The chapters subsequently recognize approximately 3,300 of the best scholar-athletes at their local awards banquets, distributing more than $1 million in scholarships. From this pool of 3,300 scholar-athletes, the chapters nominate a group of finalists, and a national committee makes the final selections on the five winners, one from each region of the country, as the recipients of the NFF National High School Scholar-Athlete Awards.

During the past 19 years, 81 student-athletes have been recognized as NFF National High School Scholar-Athletes, and this year marks the 20th class, creating a new total of 86 all-time honorees.

Four NFF National High School Scholar-Athletes have gone on to win NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards for their accomplishments in college. They are Bobby Hoying (1991, Ohio State and 1995 William V. Campbell Trophy winner), Eion Hu (1993, Harvard), Giovanni Carmazzi (1995, Hofstra), and Jon Stinchcomb (1998, Georgia).

For tickets to the Dec. 7 luncheon in New York, please contact Ron Dilatush at rdilatush@footballfoundation.com or by calling 972-556-1000. Also at the NFF Chapter Awards Luncheon, five exceptional individuals, selected for their extraordinary dedication and efforts in fulfilling the NFF's mission, will be honored as the recipients of the 2010 NFF Chapter Leadership Awards.