Ex-Cimarron star earns award at Fresno State

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001 | 9:36 a.m.

Fresno State senior strong safety Vernon Fox, who prepped at Las Vegas' Cimmaron-Memorial High School, has been named to the 2001 class of the National College Scholar-Athletes by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

Fox is one of just 16 college football student-athletes from all divisions to be selected and one of just eight players from Division 1-A football to win the honor.

"He's a great young man," Fresno State head coach Pat Hill said. "He's already graduated and is working on his Masters. He's got two degrees here. He's an outstanding young man who will be very, very successful in the business world one day. He's been a great person to have in our program."

Each scholar-athlete will be awarded an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and will be honored at the Foundation's 44th annual awards dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in December in New York.

To be eligible for a National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame postgraduate award, nominees have to be either a senior or graduate student in his final year of eligibility, maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, show superior academic application and performance, show outstanding football ability as a first-team player and also demonstrate strong leadership and citizenship.

The 5-foot-10, 200-pound Fox was a first team all-WAC pick in 2000 and has started in a team-best 37 consecutive games at strong safety.