Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award is a yearly recognition in college football, awarded to a player or team that serves as a source of inspiration during the football season. Introduced as one of 21 awards under the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), this award features the most inspirational figures or groups in the game every year.
List of Disney Spirit Award Winners Year by Year
The Disney Spirit Award, presented by Disney, came into existence in 1996. Daniel Huffman of Rossville-Alvin High School was the first winner of the Disney Spirit Award . The most recent winner is Brian Dooley of Eastern Michigan University, as of December 2024.
| Player Name | School/Individual | Year | Remarks |
| Daniel Huffman | Rossville-Alvin High School | 1996 | Huffman sacrificed his football career to give a kidney to his grandmother. |
| Dwight Collins | University of Central Florida | 1997 | Collins secured a football scholarship at UCF despite losing his hearing because of meningitis. |
| Matt Hartl | Northwestern University | 1998 | Diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1996, Hartl returned as a starter in 1997 but passed away because of the disease on August 30, 1999, at age 23. |
| East Carolina University (ECU) | 1999 | Despite Hurricane Floyd causing significant damage to the Greenville, North Carolina campus, ECU completed the season with a 9-3 record. | |
| Hameen Ali | College of William & Mary | 2000 | Ali overcame various difficulties, including a difficult childhood, poverty, and time spent in foster homes. |
| United States Service Academies | 2001 | Following 9/11, teams from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Military Academy, and Naval Academy were honored for their academic, and athletic achievements and military dedication. | |
| Dewayne White | University of Louisville | 2002 | White overcame personal tragedies, including losing two parents, two home fires, and an extreme knee injury, to turn into the 2001 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year. |
| Neil Parry | San Jose State University | 2003 | After losing his leg to amputation because of injury, Parry got back to the field three years after the fact for SJSU and played with a prosthetic leg. |
| Tim Frisby | University of South Carolina | 2004 | At 39 years of age, Frisby joined the Gamecocks as a walk-on wide receiver after serving 20 years in the Military. |
| Tulane University | 2005 | After Hurricane Katrina and the closure of its campus for the fall semester, Tulane had to play each of the 11 games away from home. | |
| Patrick Henry Hughes | University of Louisville | 2006 | Hughes was born without eyes and unable to straighten his arms and legs, he became Louisville's second recipient of the award and shared it with his father, Patrick John Hughes. |
| Zerbin Singleton | United States Naval Academy | 2007 | Singleton overcame a broken collarbone and personal tragedy, which at first obstructed his enlistment at Annapolis. |
| Tim Tebow | University of Florida | 2008 | Tebow was honored for his extensive efforts in preaching and supporting less fortunate people, having a massive effect on their lives. |
| Mark Herzlich | Boston College | 2009 | Herzlich was honored for fighting Ewing's sarcoma and inspiring his teammates and others to raise funds for cancer research. |
| D.J. Williams | University of Arkansas | 2010 | Williams and his family escaped an abusive home in Dallas and settled in Arkansas, and he used his foundation in the Razorbacks football team to motivate others through different organizations. |
| Alabama Crimson Tide football team | 2011 | The Alabama football team was honored for revamping Tuscaloosa after the 2011 cyclone, with long snapper Carson Tinker, who lost his girlfriend in the storm and experienced a broken wrist, accepting the honor. | |
| Nate Boyer | University of Texas at Austin | 2012 | Nate Boyer was honored for serving as a Green Beret and for his efforts in Darfur refugee camps. |
| Devon Walker | Tulane Green Wave | 2013 | After a spinal cord injury, Devon Walker showed remarkable courage and persistence, becoming an inspirational figure for his team, university, and the New Orleans community. |
| Sterling Shepard and Bob Stoops | University of Oklahoma | 2014 | Stoops and Shepard developed an inspirational bond after the tragic death of former Sooners receiver Derrick Shepard, with Stoops becoming a mentor to Derrick's child, Real, at six years old. |
| Hank Goff | Concordia University (Saint Paul, Minnesota) | 2015 | After struggling with post-combat injury and PTSD for nine months in Afghanistan, Goff found recovery through football, turning into a stellar Division II player and a guide for individual veterans. |
| James Conner | University of Pittsburgh | 2016 | After being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2015 and going through chemotherapy, Conner returned in 2016 to rush for more than 1,000 yards and 20 touchdowns. |
| University of Iowa | 2017 | They made the "Kinnick Wave," where fans wave toward the children's hospital overlooking Kinnick Stadium to help patients and their families watching the game. | |
| Tyler Trent | Purdue University | 2018 | Tyler gained national attention for anticipating Purdue's triumph over #2 Ohio State in 2018 after battling cancer, and his story led to thousands of donations for cancer research and the making of an endowment at the Purdue Cancer Center before he died from osteosarcoma in 2019 at age 20. |
| Casey O'Brien | University of Minnesota | 2019 | Overcame cancer to play at Minnesota |
| Darien Rencher | Clemson University | 2020 | An original walk-on at Clemson who overcame numerous ACL tears in high school, he turned into a regarded leader, community servant, and public speaker, organizing occasions like the Clemson Community Peaceful Demonstration and supporting the #WeWantToPlay movement during the Covid pandemic. |
| Tre Tipton | University of Pittsburgh | 2021 | Despite facing personal tragedies, different injuries, and struggles with mental health, Tre used his experiences to launch the nonprofit L.O.V.E., offering support to others while sharing his story through motivational speaking. |
| Tylee Craft | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 2022 | Diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in March 2022, Craft fought the illness with help from his colleagues and the UNC community, who honored him with the #TyleeStrong Spring Game, before he died in October 2024 at 23 years old. |
| Brian Dooley | Eastern Michigan University | 2023 | Dooley, a graduate student and team captain at Eastern Michigan, gave his football scholarship to Zack Conti, a player facing financial difficulties while his mother battles a kidney disease. |
FAQs on Disney Spirit Award Winners
A. Brian Dooley won the Disney Spirit Award in 2023, based on Wikipedia.
A. The Best Offensive Player award in college football is the Walter Payton Award, as per Wikipedia.
A. The Disney football award is Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award, according to Wikipedia.
A. Spirit Award honors enthusiasm, support, and an optimistic approach, based on Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences.
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