Catching His Breath after Season in Spotlight

The Providence Journal called Nick Hartigan '06 "the poster boy for Ivy football." A New York Times feature offered details about his grade point average (3.91 at the time), his senior thesis (on the growing political alliance between evangelicals and Catholics), and his study habits ("a collection of 50 books, lying on the floor in his bedroom"). The Associated Press took note of an ambitious itinerary that enabled the top rusher in Division I-AA football to not only join his teammates on the field at Columbia for a shot at the Ivy title (the Bears won, 52-21) but also to take part in the final stage of the Rhodes Scholar selection process in Pittsburgh. (Hartigan was not named a Rhodes scholar, but classmate Sasha-Mae Eccleston was.)

The season has wrapped, but Hartigan continues to collect post-season awards for athletics and academics. The latest: the Swede Nelson Award for academic, athletic and community achievement, presented by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston. He also was named the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine National Academic All-American of the Year, the highest academic recognition attainable for a student-athlete; was the unanimous choice for the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Player of the Year; was named a First Team National Academic All-American for the second consecutive season; was one of sixteen players in the nation to be awarded a National Football Foundation Scholarship; and is the first player in Brown football history to win the Harry Agganis/Harold Zimman Award as the outstanding Division I senior football player in New England, as selected by the New England Football Writers Association.

Hartigan says he owes the headlines and the awards to his teammates. "I've never been prouder to be with a group of guys than I am to be a part of this football team," he said recently.