Roger Dearing Spirit of Sport

The FHSAA has developed the “Roger Dearing Spirit of Sport Award,” which will be conferred to one (1) winner at the FHSAA’s annual Florida Dairy Farmer’s Academic All-State Banquet each June. The recipient must be an individual from an FHSAA member high school.  The recipient could be a coach, athletic administrator, administrator, contest official, trainer, student-athlete or any others associated with the school or the school’s athletic program. A student-athlete winner will receive a $1,500 scholarship from the Association. If a coach, athletic administrator, administrator, contest official, or trainer win the award, their program will receive a $1,500 donation from the FHSAA.
 

Program Overview

What is the Roger Dearing Spirit of Sport Award?
This award seeks to recognize those individuals who exemplify the ideals of the positive spirit of sport that represent the core mission of education-based activities. The award may be given in recognition of a specific act or for an activity of longer duration.

Who is eligible for nomination?
The recipient must be an individual from an FHSAA member high school.  The recipient could be a coach, athletic administrator, administrator, contest official, trainer, student-athlete or any others associated with the school or the school’s athletic program. In the instance of a student, that student must be in good academic standing within his or her respective high school. Among the qualifying criteria that will be used are the student’s grade-point average, the activities in which he or she is involved, and community involvement. Other candidates should possess similar positive character traits, such as a high level of integrity and ethics. The nomination must be for something that occurred between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Nominated individuals do not necessarily need to still be enrolled in high school at the time of the nomination.

What are the nomination deadlines?
Nomination forms will be due to the FHSAA no later than January 15, 2026. It may be submitted electronically by completing the form and e-mailing it to FHSAA Administrator of Recognition, Kelvin Richardson at krichardson@fhsaa.org.

Nomination form: click here

What does the winner receive?
A student-athlete winner will receive a $1,500 scholarship from the Association. If a coach, athletic administrator, administrator, contest official, or trainer win the award, their program will receive a $1,500 donation from the FHSAA. In addition to the aforementioned honors received in June, the winner of the Roger Dearing Spirit of Sport Award will be submitted to the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations (NFHS) as the FHSAA’s nomination for the NFHS Spirit of Sport Award. 

How do I obtain the previous results of this award?
Please send an email to Media@fhsaa.org requesting this information. Please be sure to reference both the name of the award and year within your request.