Bossard one of three Baldwin scholar-athletes recognized for Bryant-Jordan Award

Tony Whitehead / Gulf Cost Media Sports
Posted 4/21/20

 FAIRHOPE, Ala. – Fairhope senior Austin Bossard has been recognized for his commitment to achievement on and off the field. The now former Pirate safety is headed to Auburn University …

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Bossard one of three Baldwin scholar-athletes recognized for Bryant-Jordan Award

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FAIRHOPE, Ala. – Fairhope senior Austin Bossard has been recognized for his commitment to achievement on and off the field. The now former Pirate safety is headed to Auburn University to study aerospace engineering. 

“I’m super excited to be going and really looking forward to getting there and settling in,” he said.

Although the graduation ceremonies have been put on hold, all of his course work has been completed.

“It’s weird not having the ceremony we expected as usual, but I think it will still happen - just later. Maybe sometime in the summer. But we won’t know until the virus is done and it’s safe again. I just hope it’s in time for us to do the cap and gown thing. You take it for granted and then something like this happens. Makes you appreciate things more, for sure.”

Bossard thanked his mom and head football coach Tim Carter for their support along the way.

“My mom (Megan) has always been there for me. My biggest fan, I guess you could say. And just supported me in every way possible,” he said. “And coach Carter really pushed me to get better in everything that I did and to be the best player I could be. He has been like a role model for me. Although I wasn’t exactly a star athlete, I learned the value of hard work and the importance of having a good work ethic from him.”  

He also thanks his teachers from every level who inspired and motivated him.

“I have always been pretty self-motivated when it came to academics, but I’m thankful I had so many really great teachers who encouraged me along the way. Every single one of them inspired me to have confidence in myself.”

His interest in flight and science comes from within as well as a family connection and tradition. His great-grandfather (Glenn Thompson), who worked in the aeronautics field was also a source of inspiration for the sciences.

 “I have also just enjoyed making things and seeing how they work, so engineering just seemed to always be the path I was going to take.”

He expects to be settled in and ready for the start of fall classes on time, but the entire registration  process is expected to be completed online.

Look for upcoming features on Baldwin’s other Bryant-Jordan winners Albany Casey of Baldwin County High and Lillie Yazdi of Daphne High in the pages of Gulf Coast Media newspapers.

The Bryant-Jordan Foundation honored all 104 AHSAA high school seniors on with its 35th Bryant-Jordan Awards program. But this year, in lieu of an actual banquet which has been held annually since 1986, the Bryant-Jordan Foundation recognized the regional recipients, the class and overall winners via television and online streaming. The Bryant-Jordan Foundation and WOTM TV produced the television and webcast show for broadcast over the AHSAA TV Network and the NFHS Network. The banquet was canceled due to crowd restrictions mandated by Governor Kay Ivey with respect to COVID-19 precautions. The Bryant-Jordan Awards Banquet emcee Chris Stewart served as host of the broadcast.

 The Bryant-Jordan Program, named in honor of legendary coaches Paul “Bear” Bryant and Ralph “Shug” Jordan,  has annually recognized 52 senior student-athletes, one from each of the eight AHSAA districts in Classes 1A through 6A and one from each of the four districts in Class 7A in the Bryant-Jordan Achievement Award category and the Bryant-Jordan Scholar-Athlete category.

     Each regional winner is presented a $3,000 scholarship to the college of their choice from the Bryant-Jordan Foundation. During the ceremony the seven Scholar-Athlete Class winners and seven Achievement Award Class winners were also announced. Each received an additional $3,500 scholarship. The Larry D. Striplin, Jr. Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient and the Ken and Betty Joe Blankenship Achievement Award Student-Athlete of the Year recipient were also announced. Each received an additional $4,000 scholarship. Several other special scholarships were also presented.
   The Bryant-Jordan Awards Program has been held annually since 1986 with more than $10.8 million in scholarship funding distributed to 3,222 student recipients.

    Visit AHSAA.com for more information (SEE RELATED LINK) including updates on COVID-19-related updates.