Freeman wins Simone Award
Grandview QB is this season’s top high school player
By BOB LUDER
The Kansas City Star
Josh Freeman found himself sitting in a room Tuesday morning at Grandview High School with a baseball scout, who was trying to convince Freeman that football wasn’t his future.
He was then told he would be making a trip to Olathe East, where he’d be one of the finalists for the 23rd annual Thomas A. Simone Memorial Award, which honors the Kansas City area’s top high school football player.
But it wasn’t long before Freeman, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound quarterback who just wrapped up his senior season at Grandview, suspected the Simone Award trophy might be sitting somewhere else.
“After a little while, I started noticing that the school was all spiffed up,” said Freeman, who completed 151 of 286 passes for 2,622 yards and 33 touchdowns this season. “I started seeing a lot of people coming in. When I started hearing the crowd cheering, I said, ‘Whoa.’ ”
When Freeman finally set foot in the Grandview gymnasium a little after 9:30 a.m., his suspicions were confirmed. The Simone Award trophy was his, and it will sit in his high school for the upcoming year, with his name engraved on it forever.
“This means a lot,” Freeman said. “It’s probably the peak of my high school career.”
A banner unfurled on the south wall of Grandview’s gym proclaimed Freeman the Simone Award winner. It hangs alongside another commemorating 1984 Simone winner Shawn Long, another Grandview quarterback who was a guest speaker at Tuesday’s ceremony.
Several Chiefs players or former players, including Jared Allen, Derrick Johnson and Bobby Bell, were presenters. And the spotlight guest of the day was NFL Hall of Fame linebacker d!(k Butkus, who presented Freeman the Simone trophy.
“I watch the NFL Channel all the time,” Freeman said. “(Receiving the award from Butkus) was a big deal.”
It also was a banner day for Lee’s Summit West. Senior linebacker Sean Whiters won the Bobby Bell Award for outstanding small-class defensive player, while senior back La’Darrian Page received the Frank Fontana Award as outstanding small-class player. Jeff Julian, a senior linebacker at Blue Springs South, received the Buck Buchanan Memorial Award as most outstanding large-class defensive player.
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To reach Bob Luder, sports reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4877 or send e-mail to bluder@kcstar.com