The Walter Camp Distinguished American Award is presented by the Walter Camp Football Foundation to an individual who has used his or her talents to attain great success in business, private life or public service and who may have accomplished that which no other has done. The recipient does not have to have participated in football but must understand its lesson of self-denial, cooperation and teamwork and who is a person of honesty, integrity and dedication. He or she must be a leader, an innovator, even a pioneer, who has reached a degree of excellence which distinguished him or her from contemporaries and who lives within the principles of Walter Camp.

Honorees

1978—Jim Crowley, Notre Dame 1979—Sonny Werblin, Rutgers 1980—George Halas, Illinois 1980—Alexander Haig, United States Military Academy 1981—Red Grange, Illinois 1982—Eddie Robinson, Grambling State 1983—Tom Harmon, Michigan 1984—Bill Carpenter, United States Military Academy 1985—Bob Hope 1986—Tom Landry, Texas 1987—Weeb Ewbank, Miami (OH) 1988—Sid Luckman, Columbia / Y. A. Tittle, Louisiana State 1989—Dick Kazmaier, Princeton / Burt Reynolds, Florida State 1990—Tex Schramm, Texas 1991—Alex Kroll, Rutgers / Susan Saint James, Connecticut College 1992—Carmen Cozza, Miami (OH) / Yale 1993—Theodore Hesburgh 1994—Paul Tagliabue, Georgetown 1995—Keith Jackson, Washington State 1996—Dick Ebersol, Yale 1997—Steve Largent, Tulsa 1998—Steve Young, Brigham Young 1999—Bo Schembechler, Miami (OH) 2000—Gene Upshaw, Texas A&I 2001—New York City Police, Fire, and Emergency Medical Service Personnel and Port Authority Police 2002—Regis Philbin, Notre Dame 2003—Bill Walsh, San Jose State 2004—Pat Summerall, Arkansas 2005—Arthur Blank, Babson 2006—Dick Vermeil, San Jose State 2007—Frank Broyles, Georgia Tech 2008—Len Dawson, Purdue 2009—Robin Roberts, Southeastern Louisiana 2010—Chuck Bednarik, Pennsylvania 2011—Floyd Little, Syracuse 2012—Tom Osborne, Hastings 2013—Joe Theismann, Notre Dame 2014—Verne Lundquist, Texas Lutheran 2015—Timothy Shriver, Yale 2016—Mike Ditka, Pitt 2017—Lee Corso, Florida State 2018—Archie Manning, Ole Miss 2019—Chris Berman, Brown 2021—Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys 2022—Tom Coughlin, New York Giants 2023—Steve Spurrier, Florida