- Mike Aresco, American Athletic Conference Commissioner
- Jon Butler, Pop Warner Little Scholars Executive Director
- Tom Cove, Sports & Fitness Industry Association President and CEO
- Tom McMillen, LEAD1 Association President & CEO
The NFF Legacy Award recognizes individuals who have never failed to answer a call of support from the NFF, and they have distinguished themselves as the most ardent proponents of football’s unique ability to develop the next generation of great leaders.
“These four individuals, Mike Aresco, Jon Butler, Tom Cove, and Tom McMillen, have each played a significant role in promoting our game and its ability to develop future leaders,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. “Their firm commitment to our sport and championing the mission of the NFF has helped ensure that football continues to grow and play an expanding role across the country. It’s an honor to recognize each of their contributions by recognizing them with an NFF Legacy Award.”
American Athletic Conference Commissioner
After becoming the commissioner of the Big East Conference in August 2012, Mike Aresco reconstituted the league into the American Athletic Conference in 2013. He successfully led the league for its first 11 years before retiring in May.
“A visionary, Mike Aresco has played a major role in redefining the landscape of college football and intercollegiate athletics,” said NFF President & CEOÂ Steve Hatchell. “His unwavering commitment to student-athlete success and his strategic foresight has ensured members of The American consistently compete on the biggest stages. Mike’s influence has been felt far beyond his conference, and we are extremely grateful for his many contributions over the years.”
During his tenure, Aresco navigated The American through a period of near-constant change in intercollegiate athletics, developing it into a national leader in competitiveness, student-athlete wellness, fiscal management, administration and branding.
His highly successful tenure produced four NCAA championship teams, a College Football Playoff semifinalist, four New Year’s Six bowl champions, two NCAA Men’s Final Four teams and six Women’s Final Four teams in its first decade. Aresco secured two monumental media rights agreements with ESPN, ensuring The American would have prominent and consistent exposure on the industry leader in sports television while providing the conference financial stability for the membership.
The American’s success contributed to the major shifts in the national landscape with UCF, Cincinnati and Houston, all of which scored New Year’s Six and NCAA men’s basketball tournament wins under The American’s banner, joining the Big 12 and SMU moving to the ACC for the 2024 season. Aresco negotiated fair and sensible separation agreements with the departing members, but more importantly, orchestrated a strategic expansion of his own by adding like-minded universities (UAB, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UTSA as well as Army West Point as a football-playing member) to further concentrate The American’s presence in key cities and regions.
Aresco has been a prominent leader within the College Football Playoff and was instrumental in ensuring that all 10 FBS conferences would have an annual opportunity to challenge for a New Year’s Six bowl bid – a move that paid off for The American with seven New Year’s Six bowls in the first nine years of the system. He played a key role in the expansion of the Playoff to 12 teams, including automatic bids for six league champions, and he served in a leadership role on a number of College Football Playoff committees, including the strategic planning, television and site selection committees and more recently, the committee to select the organization’s next executive director.
Aresco came to the conference from CBS Sports where he was Executive Vice President, Programming. Aresco joined CBS Sports from ESPN where he was responsible for overseeing the acquisition, scheduling and development of long-term strategies for all ESPN college sports properties. Aresco is a graduate of Tufts University (B.A.), The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts (M.A.) and the University of Connecticut School of Law (J.D.). He practiced law privately in Hartford, Connecticut, for several years.
Pop Warner Little Scholars Executive Director
Jon Butler has led Pop Warner Little Scholars, the nation’s preeminent youth football and cheer organization, for the past 33 years, and in July announced he would be stepping down following the 2024 season.
“Jon Butler’s dedication to Pop Warner for more than three decades has been nothing short of extraordinary,” said NFF President and CEOÂ Steve Hatchell. “He has made an indelible impact on youth football, always emphasizing the well-being, education, and character development of young people. We are proud to honor Jon with the NFF Legacy Award, recognizing his lasting contributions to the game and to the generations of players and families whose lives he has enriched.”
Founded in 1929 and headquartered in Langhorne, Pennsylvania and boasting more than one mission alumni, Pop Warner Little Scholars is the nation’s oldest youth football, cheerleading and dance organization and the only youth sports organization that emphasizes academics as a prerequisite for participation. Under Butler’s leadership, the organization has flourished with more than 800 Pop Warner associations or local programs across the nation, becoming the model for all youth sports leagues.
Butler’s accomplishments include overseeing the expansion of the Pop Warner Super Bowl program in Orlando Florida, where the regional winners from five different age and weight divisions meet to crown national football champions, and he enhanced the highly competitive PWLS cheer and dance program with squads from all over the country competing for national championship titles in multiple age groups. Also under Butler’s guidance, the All-American Little Scholar program has grown exponentially to recognize youth academic standouts from around the country.
Prior to heading Pop Warner Little Scholars, Butler built a background in football and business during an eight-year stretch as the president of Rae Crowther Co., the leading manufacturer of football blocking sleds and field equipment. He spent six years as a high school assistant football coach and one year coaching CYO, and he is a long-time member of the American Football Coaches Association.
Butler served as a director of the National Council of Youth Sports and was elected as vice president. His service has also included the Advisory Board of the National Children’s Literacy and Book Alliance, the Editorial Advisory Board of Sports Events Magazine, the Diversity Committee of U.S. Lacrosse, the Board of Directors of USA Football and the Board of Hopewell Valley Recreation Foundation.
Butler spent eight years as a Big Brother, and he was recognized by the Chapel of Four Chaplains for his volunteer work as a fundraiser and recruiter for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Philadelphia. In 2006, He was selected as the Hershey’s S.T.R.I.V.E Awards’ National Youth Sports Administrator of the Year. Butler is a graduate of the University of Virginia.
Sports & Fitness Industry Association President and CEO
Tom Cove served as the president & CEO of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) from 2005 until his recent retirement on Oct. 4.
“Tom Cove’s dedication to promoting physical activity and sports participation has left an indelible mark on the sports industry,” said NFF President & CEOÂ Steve Hatchell. “And we have been extremely grateful for his partnership as we have worked together over the past decade to showcase the shifting trends in football participation, including the growth of flag and the rise of girls playing our sport. We are proud to honor him with an NFF Legacy Award for his contributions.”
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., and representing the interests of more than 500 leading manufacturers, brands, licensors, distributors and retailers, SFIA seeks to promote sports and fitness participation and the vitality of the industry through research, thought leadership, public affairs, industry affairs, and member services. Â During his tenure, Cove oversaw the transformation of the association from a traditional tradeshow-focused manufacturers group into a full-service industry organization, delivering unparalleled sport and business advocacy, world-class sports participation research and analysis, innovative thought leadership and events, and a wide variety of targeted member services to address the specific needs of industry companies.
Cove’s signature leadership accomplishments include the Congressional passage and funding of the Carol White Physical Education for Progress (PEP) program, which drove almost $1 billion into local physical education programs around the country; the ground-breaking program to eliminate child labor in global soccer ball production, for which SFIA was awarded the Corporate Conscience Award; the Industry Participation Plan (IPP), a multi-million dollar collaboration which coalesced the entire sports and fitness industry to support legislation and grassroots programs to increase physical activity and sports participation; and the establishment of National PE Day and National Health Through Fitness Day, bringing hundreds of celebrity athletes and industry executives to lobby Capitol Hill annually.
Prior to becoming CEO, Cove served as SFIA’s vice president of Government Relations for more than 13 years and prior to joining SFIA, he served on the staff of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Senate and as a Presidential Management Fellow. He holds an M.P.A. from George Washington University and an B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland.
LEAD1 Association President & CEO
The Honorable Tom McMillen served as the president and CEO of the LEAD1 Association from 2015 until stepping down Sept. 30. McMillen, a former U.S. Congressman, college basketball All-American, Rhodes Scholar, and 11-year NBA player, has also served on the NFF Board of Trustees since 2020.
“We have been fortunate to have the counsel of Tom McMillen during the past eight years, and we are particularly grateful for his service on the NFF Board of Trustee,” said NFF President & CEOÂ Steve Hatchell. “His insights over the years and passion for creating opportunities for student-athletes has been instrumental in our efforts to make an impact. We are proud to honor him with an NFF Legacy Award for his extraordinary contributions.”
Founded in 1986 as the Division 1A Athletic Director’s Association, the LEAD1 Association represents the 134 athletics directors and programs of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), working to ensure the success of student-athletes, both in the classroom and on the playing field.
McMillen broke new ground with the organization, renaming it and moving the headquarters to the Washington, D.C., area to be closer to the nation’s policymakers. His leadership has helped influence how the rules of college sports are enacted and implemented, and the organization has been a key advocate for the future of college athletics. During his tenure at LEAD1, McMillen served on the steering committee for the NFF’s Future For Football initiative, providing a platform for the program at the 2023 LEAD1 Spring Forum.
As a star basketball player at Maryland, McMillen earned All-America laurels and still holds the school record for career scoring average. McMillen was a member of the 1972 Olympic basketball team that refused to accept a silver medal after its controversial and disputed championship game with the Soviet Union.
After graduating as valedictorian of his class at Maryland, McMillen was selected as a Rhodes Scholar (the first from the University of Maryland) and attended Oxford University, earning his masters. He then played 11 years in the NBA, finishing his career in 1986 as the first and only active professional athlete to run for Congress.
From 1987 to 1993, McMillen served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the Fourth District of Maryland. During his time in Congress, he cosponsored the Student Right-to-Know Act, which required colleges and universities to disclose the graduation rates of its students and student-athletes.
In May 1988, McMillen was inducted into the first Capital One Academic All-American Hall of Fame as a charter member. In 2002, the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), McMillen was chosen as one of the ACC’s Top 50 players of all time. In 2010, McMillen was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame and in 2013, he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
McMillen was also a founding member of the Knight Foundation’s Commission on Intercollegiate Activities that investigated abuses in college sports.
Click here for the list of all-time NFF Legacy Award Honorees
Click here for more information on the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas, including how to purchase tickets and obtain discounted airfare and hotel accommodations.
###
