In a capstone to a historic career, one of the NCAA’s loftiest honors is going to former Central College football quarterback Blaine Hawkins as he was named a recipient of the 2023 Today’s Top 10 Award. Hawkins, the 2021 Gagliardi Trophy winner as the outstanding football player in Division III, and nine other exceptional former student-athletes will be recognized at the Honors Celebration Jan. 11 during the NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Initiated in 1973, the award recognizes 10 former student-athletes from across all NCAA divisions for their successes on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The recipients completed their athletics eligibility during the 2021-22 academic year.

Hawkins is only the third student-athlete from an Iowa college or university to ever receive the award and the second in Central history. Central’s Emilie Hanson, a two-time NCAA Division III women’s basketball player of the year and College Sports Communicators Academic All-American of the Year, was honored with what was then the Today’s Top VIII Award in 1996 at the NCAA Convention in Dallas, Texas. The only other Iowa collegiate award recipient was Simpson College softball pitcher Kelly Schade in 2000.

An economics and business management major, Hawkins graduated in 2021 with a 3.61 grade point average (4.0 scale). He now serves as an associate in public finance investment banking for Piper Sandler Companies in Denver, Colorado.

“We are thrilled to celebrate this honor with Blaine,” Central president Mark Putnam said. “While he was a generational talent on the football field, this award encompasses the breadth of Blaine’s Central College experience and the richness of the opportunities that experience provided him, just as it does for each of our students. Much of Blaine’s success is due to his taking full advantage of those varied opportunities beyond football, from pursuing a double major, to working and studying in London, to the internships he pursued, to his work with the Student Senate, as well as the heart for service he displayed in both formal and informal settings. We are proud to have Blaine stand as a representative of Central College on the NCAA Honors Celebration stage in San Antonio next month.”

Hawkins set all-divisions NCAA records in 2021 for most touchdown passes in a season (63) and for points responsible for in a season (410). He also established new Division III records for touchdown passes in one half (7) and touchdowns responsible for in a career (178).