FBI Director Robert Mueller to Receive McLaughry Award

FBI Director Robert Mueller has been chosen as the 2013 recipient of the AFCA’s highest honor, the Tuss McLaughry Award. Director Mueller will receive the award at the AFCA’s Coach of the Year Dinner on January 8 at the 2013 AFCA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I am honored to receive the Tuss McLaughry Award,” Director Mueller said. “The FBI has a longstanding partnership with the AFCA – through the National Child Identification Program, the Safe Online Surfing program, Child ID kits, and now through the Child ID phone app.  We in the FBI are proud to stand together with the AFCA.  I can think of no more worthwhile endeavor for our organizations to pursue together than to protect our children.” 

The Safe Online Surfing program helps to educate children about cyber safety, both through the website, sos.fbi.gov, and through presentations on a range of Internet safety topics, including cyber bullying, and dangers posed by child predators.

Child identification kits help parents to gather their children’s pictures, fingerprints, identifying characteristics and even DNA, in the case of emergency. 

The Child ID app enables parents to store photos and vital statistics about their children on their smart phones for immediate access if their children go missing.

Director Mueller has lived a life of service – keeping with the tradition of the Tuss McLaughry Award. He is the sixth Director of the FBI. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and was sworn in on September 4, 2001. Director Mueller’s 10-year term was extended for an additional two years.

After receiving his undergraduate degree at Princeton University and his Master’s Degree in International Relations from New York University, Director Mueller joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as a Marine officer for three years. After attending Army Ranger and Jump Schools, he led a rifle platoon of the Third Marine Division in Vietnam for one year. For his service, he received the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals, the Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

Following his career in the Marine Corps, Director Mueller went on to earn his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School.  Director Mueller has served as a litigator, a U.S. Attorney, and Acting Deputy Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Past Tuss McLaughry Award Winners

1964     Gen. Douglas MacArthur, armed forces
1965     Bob Hope, entertainer
1966     Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. President
1967     Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. President
1968     J. Edgar Hoover, director, FBI
1969     The Reverend Billy Graham, evangelist
1970     Richard M. Nixon, U.S. President
1971     Edwin Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronauts
1974     John Wayne, actor
1975     Gerald R. Ford, U.S. President
1977     Gen. James A. Van Fleet, armed forces
1979     Jimmy Stewart, actor
1980     Lt. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, armed forces
1981     Dr. Jerome Holland, educator, business executive
1982     Robert Crippen & John Young, astronauts
1983     Ronald Reagan, U.S. President
1985     Pete Rozelle, NFL Commissioner
1986     Gen. Pete Dawkins, armed forces
1987     Gen. Chuck Yeager, armed forces
1988     Lindsey Nelson, sportscaster
1989     George Shultz, U.S. Secretary of State
1990     Burt Reynolds, actor
1993    Tom Landry, Head Coach, Dallas Cowboys
1994    Charley Boswell, armed forces
1996    Eddie Robinson, Head Coach, Grambling St.
1998    George Bush, U.S. President
2001    Andrew Young, United Nations Ambassador
2002    Roger Staubach, businessman, NFL Hall of Famer
2003    Stephen Ambrose, Author and historian
2004    Gen. Tommy Franks, armed forces
2005    Dr. Christopher Kraft, NASA
2007    Paul Tagliabue, NFL Commissioner
2008    Tom Osborne, Head Coach, Nebraska
2009    Rudy Giuliani, former mayor, New York City
2010   Tony Dungy, Head Coach, Indianapolis Colts