Former Eastern Kentucky Head Coach Roy Kidd to Receive 2023 AFCA Amos Alonzo Stagg Award
December 5, 2022
Former Eastern Kentucky University head coach and 1998 AFCA President Roy Kidd will receive the AFCA’s 2023 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. The award is given to those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests in football,” and will be presented during the 2023 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Kidd spent a total of 45 years with the Eastern Kentucky football program. He lettered for four years in both football and baseball at EKU and was named All-Ohio Valley Conference and a “Little All-American” in 1953 as a quarterback. On the baseball field, Kidd was a star centerfielder who batted .300 or better for four consecutive seasons. After graduation, Kidd became a student assistant coach in 1954. That football team went undefeated and won the Ohio Valley Conference.
In 1955, Kidd moved on to the high school level as an assistant coach at Madison Central High School, followed by six years as head coach at Richmond Madison High School where his teams went a combined 54-10-1. In 1963, Kidd returned to EKU as an assistant coach, then in 1964, he was named the Colonels’ head coach.
Over his 39 seasons as head coach, Kidd claimed 314 victories and 37 winning seasons. The Colonels won 16 Ohio Valley Conference titles, appeared in 17 NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, and won two national championships in 1979 and 1982. From 1979 to 1982, EKU went 46-7 and appeared in four straight Division I-AA championship games.
Kidd set the national record for most NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances and upon his retirement in 2002, was the sixth winningest coach in NCAA history. Kidd also coached 55 All-Americans, 202 First Team All-OVC players, and had 41 players sign National Football League contracts.
Kidd won six AFCA District/Regional Coach of the Year awards, two Division I-AA National Coach of the Year honors and was a 10-time OVC Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003 and is also a member of the Eastern Kentucky University Hall of Fame, the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame, and the Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame.
In honor of Coach Kidd’s influence and success at Eastern Kentucky, the Colonels’ football stadium was named in his honor and the street that front’s the stadium has been renamed “Roy and Sue Kidd Way.”
The Award
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is given to the “individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football.” Its purpose is “to perpetuate the example and influence of Amos Alonzo Stagg.”
The award is named in honor of a man who was instrumental in founding the AFCA in the 1920s. He is considered one of the great innovators and motivating forces in the early development of the game of football. The plaque given to each recipient is a replica of the one given to Stagg at the 1939 AFCA Convention in tribute to his 50 years of service to football.
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg began his coaching career at the School of Christian Workers, now Springfield (Mass.) College, after graduating from Yale University in 1888.
Stagg also served as head coach at Chicago (1892-1932) and College of the Pacific (1933-1946). His 41 seasons at Chicago is one of the longest head coaching tenures in the history of the college game.
Among the innovations credited to Stagg are the tackling dummy, the huddle, the reverse play, man in motion, knit pants, numbering plays and players, and the awarding of letters.
A long-time AFCA member, Stagg was the Association’s 1943 Coach of the Year.
According to NCAA records, Stagg’s 57-year record as a college head coach is 314-199-35. He was 84 years old when he ended his coaching career at Pacific in 1946. He died in 1965 at the age of 103.
Past Amos Alonzo Stagg Award Winners:
Year Past Winners Year Past Winners
1940 Donald Herring, Jr., (Princeton player) and family 1983 Paul W. Bear Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama
1941 William H. Cowell (posthumously), New Hampshire 1984 Charles B. Bud Wilkinson, Oklahoma
1946 Grantland Rice, sportswriter 1985 Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State
1947 William A. Alexander, Georgia Tech 1986 Woody Hayes, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State
1948 Gilmour Dobie, North Dakota State, Washington, Navy, Cornell, Boston College 1987 Field Scovell, Cotton Bowl
Glenn S. Pop Warner, Georgia, Cornell, Carlisle, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Temple 1988 G. Herbert McCracken, Allegheny, Lafayette
Robert C. Zuppke, Illinois 1989 David Nelson, Delaware
1949 Richard C. Harlow, Penn State, Colgate, Western Maryland, Harvard 1990 Len Casanova, Oregon
1950 No award given 1991 Bob Blackman, Denver, Dartmouth, Illinois, Cornell
1951 DeOrmond Tuss McLaughry, Westminster, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth 1992 Charles McClendon, LSU
1952 A.N. Bo McMillin, Indiana 1993 Keith Jackson, ABC-TV
1953 Lou Little, Georgetown, Columbia 1994 Bob Devaney, Nebraska, Wyoming
1954 Dana X. Bible, Mississippi College, LSU, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas 1995 John Merritt, Jackson State, Tennessee State
1955 Joseph J. Tomlin, founder, Pop Warner Football 1996 Chuck Neinas, College Football Association
1956 No award given 1997 Ara Parseghian, Miami (Ohio), Northwestern, Notre Dame
1957 Gen. Robert R. Neyland, Tennessee 1998 Bob Reade, Augustana (Ill.)
1958 Bernie Bierman, Mississippi A&M, Tulane, Minnesota 1999 Bo Schembechler, Miami (Ohio), Michigan
1959 Dr. John W. Wilce, Ohio State 2000 Tom Osborne, Nebraska
1960 Harvey J. Harman, Haverford, University of the South, Pennsylvania, Rutgers 2001 Vince Dooley, Georgia
1961 Ray Eliot, Illinois 2002 Joe Paterno, Penn State
1962 E.E. Tad Wieman, Michigan, Princeton, Maine 2003 LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young
1963 Andrew Kerr, Stanford, Washington & Jefferson, Colgate, Lebanon Valley 2004 Ron Schipper, Central (Iowa)
1964 Don Faurot, Missouri 2005 Hayden Fry, North Texas, SMU, Iowa
1965 Harry Stuhldreher, Wisconsin 2006 Grant Teaff, McMurry, Angelo State, Baylor
1966 Bernie H. Moore, LSU 2007 Bill Curry, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky
1967 Jess Neely, Southwestern, Clemson, Rice 2008 Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers, Stanford
1968 Abe Martin, TCU 2009 John Gagliardi, Carroll (Mont.), St. Johns (Minn.)
1969 Charles A. Rip Engle, Brown, Penn State 2010 Darrell Royal, Mississippi State, Washington, Texas
1970 Lynn Pappy Waldorf, Syracuse, Oklahoma City, Kansas, Oklahoma A&M, Kansas State, Northwestern, California 2011 Bobby Bowden, Samford, West Virginia, Florida State
1971 Bill Murray, Delaware, Duke 2012 Fisher DeBerry, Air Force
1972 Jack Curtice, Stanford 2013 Frosty Westering, Parsons, Lea College, Pacific Lutheran
1973 Lloyd Jordan, Amherst, Harvard 2014 R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M
1974 Alonzo S. Jake Gaither, Florida A&M 2015 Ken Hatfield, Air Force, Arkansas, Clemson, Rice
1975 Gerald B. Zornow, business executive 2016 John Cooper, Tulsa, Arizona State, Ohio State
1976 No award given 2017 Don Nehlen, Bowling Green, West Virginia
1977 Floyd Ben Schwartzwalder, Muhlenberg, Syracuse 2018 Frank Broyles, Missouri, Arkansas
1978 Tom Hamilton, Navy, Pittsburgh 2019 Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills
1979 H.O. Fritz Crisler, Minnesota, Princeton, Michigan 2020 Dick Tomey, Arizona, Hawaii, San Jose State
1980 No award given 2022 Mel Tjeerdsma, Austin College, Northwest Missouri State
1981 Fred Russell, sportswriter 2023 Roy Kidd, Eastern Kentucky
1982 Eddie Robinson, Grambling
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
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Former Eastern Kentucky University head coach and 1998 AFCA President Roy Kidd will receive the AFCA’s 2023 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. The award is given to those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests in football,” and will be presented during the 2023 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Kidd spent a total of 45 years with the Eastern Kentucky football program. He lettered for four years in both football and baseball at EKU and was named All-Ohio Valley Conference and a “Little All-American” in 1953 as a quarterback. On the baseball field, Kidd was a star centerfielder who batted .300 or better for four consecutive seasons. After graduation, Kidd became a student assistant coach in 1954. That football team went undefeated and won the Ohio Valley Conference.
In 1955, Kidd moved on to the high school level as an assistant coach at Madison Central High School, followed by six years as head coach at Richmond Madison High School where his teams went a combined 54-10-1. In 1963, Kidd returned to EKU as an assistant coach, then in 1964, he was named the Colonels’ head coach.
Over his 39 seasons as head coach, Kidd claimed 314 victories and 37 winning seasons. The Colonels won 16 Ohio Valley Conference titles, appeared in 17 NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, and won two national championships in 1979 and 1982. From 1979 to 1982, EKU went 46-7 and appeared in four straight Division I-AA championship games.
Kidd set the national record for most NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearances and upon his retirement in 2002, was the sixth winningest coach in NCAA history. Kidd also coached 55 All-Americans, 202 First Team All-OVC players, and had 41 players sign National Football League contracts.
Kidd won six AFCA District/Regional Coach of the Year awards, two Division I-AA National Coach of the Year honors and was a 10-time OVC Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003 and is also a member of the Eastern Kentucky University Hall of Fame, the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame, and the Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame.
In honor of Coach Kidd’s influence and success at Eastern Kentucky, the Colonels’ football stadium was named in his honor and the street that front’s the stadium has been renamed “Roy and Sue Kidd Way.”
The Award
The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is given to the “individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football.” Its purpose is “to perpetuate the example and influence of Amos Alonzo Stagg.”
The award is named in honor of a man who was instrumental in founding the AFCA in the 1920s. He is considered one of the great innovators and motivating forces in the early development of the game of football. The plaque given to each recipient is a replica of the one given to Stagg at the 1939 AFCA Convention in tribute to his 50 years of service to football.
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg began his coaching career at the School of Christian Workers, now Springfield (Mass.) College, after graduating from Yale University in 1888.
Stagg also served as head coach at Chicago (1892-1932) and College of the Pacific (1933-1946). His 41 seasons at Chicago is one of the longest head coaching tenures in the history of the college game.
Among the innovations credited to Stagg are the tackling dummy, the huddle, the reverse play, man in motion, knit pants, numbering plays and players, and the awarding of letters.
A long-time AFCA member, Stagg was the Association’s 1943 Coach of the Year.
According to NCAA records, Stagg’s 57-year record as a college head coach is 314-199-35. He was 84 years old when he ended his coaching career at Pacific in 1946. He died in 1965 at the age of 103.
Past Amos Alonzo Stagg Award Winners:
| Year | Past Winners | Year | Past Winners |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Donald Herring, Jr., (Princeton player) and family | 1983 | Paul W. Bear Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama |
| 1941 | William H. Cowell (posthumously), New Hampshire | 1984 | Charles B. Bud Wilkinson, Oklahoma |
| 1946 | Grantland Rice, sportswriter | 1985 | Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State |
| 1947 | William A. Alexander, Georgia Tech | 1986 | Woody Hayes, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State |
| 1948 | Gilmour Dobie, North Dakota State, Washington, Navy, Cornell, Boston College | 1987 | Field Scovell, Cotton Bowl |
| Glenn S. Pop Warner, Georgia, Cornell, Carlisle, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Temple | 1988 | G. Herbert McCracken, Allegheny, Lafayette | |
| Robert C. Zuppke, Illinois | 1989 | David Nelson, Delaware | |
| 1949 | Richard C. Harlow, Penn State, Colgate, Western Maryland, Harvard | 1990 | Len Casanova, Oregon |
| 1950 | No award given | 1991 | Bob Blackman, Denver, Dartmouth, Illinois, Cornell |
| 1951 | DeOrmond Tuss McLaughry, Westminster, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth | 1992 | Charles McClendon, LSU |
| 1952 | A.N. Bo McMillin, Indiana | 1993 | Keith Jackson, ABC-TV |
| 1953 | Lou Little, Georgetown, Columbia | 1994 | Bob Devaney, Nebraska, Wyoming |
| 1954 | Dana X. Bible, Mississippi College, LSU, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas | 1995 | John Merritt, Jackson State, Tennessee State |
| 1955 | Joseph J. Tomlin, founder, Pop Warner Football | 1996 | Chuck Neinas, College Football Association |
| 1956 | No award given | 1997 | Ara Parseghian, Miami (Ohio), Northwestern, Notre Dame |
| 1957 | Gen. Robert R. Neyland, Tennessee | 1998 | Bob Reade, Augustana (Ill.) |
| 1958 | Bernie Bierman, Mississippi A&M, Tulane, Minnesota | 1999 | Bo Schembechler, Miami (Ohio), Michigan |
| 1959 | Dr. John W. Wilce, Ohio State | 2000 | Tom Osborne, Nebraska |
| 1960 | Harvey J. Harman, Haverford, University of the South, Pennsylvania, Rutgers | 2001 | Vince Dooley, Georgia |
| 1961 | Ray Eliot, Illinois | 2002 | Joe Paterno, Penn State |
| 1962 | E.E. Tad Wieman, Michigan, Princeton, Maine | 2003 | LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young |
| 1963 | Andrew Kerr, Stanford, Washington & Jefferson, Colgate, Lebanon Valley | 2004 | Ron Schipper, Central (Iowa) |
| 1964 | Don Faurot, Missouri | 2005 | Hayden Fry, North Texas, SMU, Iowa |
| 1965 | Harry Stuhldreher, Wisconsin | 2006 | Grant Teaff, McMurry, Angelo State, Baylor |
| 1966 | Bernie H. Moore, LSU | 2007 | Bill Curry, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky |
| 1967 | Jess Neely, Southwestern, Clemson, Rice | 2008 | Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers, Stanford |
| 1968 | Abe Martin, TCU | 2009 | John Gagliardi, Carroll (Mont.), St. Johns (Minn.) |
| 1969 | Charles A. Rip Engle, Brown, Penn State | 2010 | Darrell Royal, Mississippi State, Washington, Texas |
| 1970 | Lynn Pappy Waldorf, Syracuse, Oklahoma City, Kansas, Oklahoma A&M, Kansas State, Northwestern, California | 2011 | Bobby Bowden, Samford, West Virginia, Florida State |
| 1971 | Bill Murray, Delaware, Duke | 2012 | Fisher DeBerry, Air Force |
| 1972 | Jack Curtice, Stanford | 2013 | Frosty Westering, Parsons, Lea College, Pacific Lutheran |
| 1973 | Lloyd Jordan, Amherst, Harvard | 2014 | R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M |
| 1974 | Alonzo S. Jake Gaither, Florida A&M | 2015 | Ken Hatfield, Air Force, Arkansas, Clemson, Rice |
| 1975 | Gerald B. Zornow, business executive | 2016 | John Cooper, Tulsa, Arizona State, Ohio State |
| 1976 | No award given | 2017 | Don Nehlen, Bowling Green, West Virginia |
| 1977 | Floyd Ben Schwartzwalder, Muhlenberg, Syracuse | 2018 | Frank Broyles, Missouri, Arkansas |
| 1978 | Tom Hamilton, Navy, Pittsburgh | 2019 | Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills |
| 1979 | H.O. Fritz Crisler, Minnesota, Princeton, Michigan | 2020 | Dick Tomey, Arizona, Hawaii, San Jose State |
| 1980 | No award given | 2022 | Mel Tjeerdsma, Austin College, Northwest Missouri State |
| 1981 | Fred Russell, sportswriter | 2023 | Roy Kidd, Eastern Kentucky |
| 1982 | Eddie Robinson, Grambling |
For more information about the AFCA, visit www.AFCA.com. For more interesting articles, check out The Insider and subscribe to our weekly email.
If you are interested in more in-depth articles and videos, please become an AFCA member. You can find out more information about membership and specific member benefits on the AFCA Membership Overview page. If you are ready to join, please fill out the AFCA Membership Application.
