Courtesy Framingham State Sports Information

Boston, Mass. - Gridiron Club of Greater Boston president Ray Gallant announced today that Framingham State University wide receiver James McCarthy (Newton, Mass.) has been selected to receive the 15^th annual Joe Zabilski Award which recognizes the top players in Divisions II and III.  McCarthy is the Division III recipient, while Shawn Loiseau, a linebacker from Merrimack College, is the Division II winner.  The winners of all of the awards presented by the Gridiron Club will be honored by the club at its annual Bob Whelan College Football Awards Night on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, Massachusetts.

McCarthy continues to rack up honors this season as he has previously been a New England Football Writers Division II/III All-New England selection, a first team New England Football Conference (NEFC) All-Bogan Division selection and a first team All-Region selection by D3football.com.  McCarthy rewrote the Rams record book in 2010 as he became the first FSU wide receiver to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a season making 62 catches for 1,100 yards and 22 touchdowns.  Despite missing the first two games of the year due to injury, he led the nation in scoring and the NEFC in receptions per game, receiving yards per game, touchdowns and scoring.  McCarthy has broken seven FSU offensive records including touchdown receptions in a game and season, points in a game and season, touchdowns in a game and season, and receiving yards in a season. 

About the Gridiron Club, “Keepers of the Flame”: Founded in 1932, the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston promotes the game of football at all levels and nurtures the ideals of citizenship, sportsmanship, leadership, and athletic and academic achievement. Through its annual dinners and golf tournament, the club carries on its tradition of honoring exemplary players, coaches and officials at all levels of the sport, and supporting worthy charitable causes, especially those that assist children.

The Gridiron Club is steward of some of the most storied awards in American sport. The George H. “Bulger” Lowe Award, established in 1939 and awarded to New England’s best college football players, is the country’s oldest accolade of its kind after the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award. The Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award, inaugurated in 1946, recognizes football players who also distinguish themselves in the classroom. In 1977, the club assumed stewardship of the Walter Brown Award, the nation’s oldest college hockey honor, which is given to the best American-born college player in New England.