2023 Contribution to the Game Award
2021
Andre Tippett
Andre was born in Alabama and grew up in Newark, NJ. A product of Barringer High School, where he as a three sport standout athlete lettering in football, wrestling, and track and field. He was recruited by the University of Iowa and was two-time All-Big-Ten in 1980 and 1981, and All-American in 1981. He helped lead the Hawkeyes to their first winning season, their first Big Ten title and the first Rose Bowl appearance in two decades.
He was subsequently drafted in the 2nd round by the New England Patriots in 1982, where he played 11 seasons at linebacker from 1982-1993. He was a 5 time Pro-Bowler, NFL Defensive Player of the Year, AFC Player of the Year, NFL’s 1980’s All-Decade Team, NE Patriots Hall of Fame, “100 Sacks Club”, 2x 1st team All-Pro, and 2x 2nd Team All Pro. In 2008 he was enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
This year, the National Football Foundation, the parent organization of our chapter, will be inducting Andre into the College Football Hall of Fame in December, 2021.
He has studied martial arts for over three decades and holds a 6th degree black belt in Uechi-ryu karate, certified under the Okinawa Karate-do Association based in Okinawa, Japan.
Andre and his wife, Rhonda, reside in Massachusetts with their three daughters and one son. He currently serves as Executive Director of Community Affairs for the New England Patriots.
2020
Mike Murphy
Michael J. Murphy is a retired police officer with 28 years of service. Michael holds a Master’s Degree and was a former D.A.R.E. Officer and National School Resource Officer.
Currently, Michael serves as the Head of the Security Team for the New York Giants.
“Murphy’s Life Lessons” Presentation focuses on athletes and student awareness in regards to the pitfalls of alcohol, drugs and making poor choices.
Michael’s life experience has allowed for him to share his knowledge to athletes and students all across the country in preparation for the opportunities and situations that truly test their character and strength.
2019
Joseph Purzycki
Joe Purzycki was the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Barclaycard US, a division of Barclaycard International from 2001 to 2010. As Chief Operating Officer, Joe was responsible for all operational aspects of the business including Customer Care, Bank Operations, Customer Support, Technology, and Marketing Operating and their supporting budgets. As Vice Chairman and member of the bank’s Board of Directors, Joe was directly involved in the management and strategic direction of the company.
Prior to 2007, Joe managed Customer Care and Bank Operations for the company. Prior to joining Barclays Bank, Mr. Purzycki was Executive Vice President of Chase Card Services from 2001 to 2006 and was a member of the Card Services Senior Management Team. Mr. Purzycki began his credit card career at MBNA America Bank in 1990 where he was an Executive Vice President. Mr. Purzycki managed the credit card businesses for MBNA’s transportation business (NASCAR), its sports businesses (National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League) and its college and university businesses.
Joe has a Master’s Degree in Education Administration and a Bachelors of Science in Education from the University of Delaware. After receiving his Bachelors of Science and Master’s Degrees, Mr. Purzycki went on to become the head football coach at Delaware State University and James Madison University. Mr. Purzycki currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware. In 2005, Mr. Purzycki was inducted into the State of Delaware Sports Hall of Fame, the State of Delaware African American Hall of Fame and the University of Delaware Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2014, Joe was inducted into the Newark, New Jersey Athletics Hall of Fame and the University of Delaware’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
2017
Kevin Saum
In the fall of 2007, Kevin Saum, a graduate of the West Morris Central High School’s class of 2008, suffered a specific type of traumatic brain injury while playing football called Second Impact Syndrome (SIS).
Kevin experienced severe headaches from his initial concussion but went undiagnosed because he hid symptoms from his coaches and the school’s athletic trainer. After collapsing in a grand mal seizure on the field after the second impact, he was airlifted to the hospital where he received an emergency craniotomy to relieve pressure on the brain. Playing college football was no longer possible.
After surgery Kevin experienced numerous setbacks but went on to play baseball in the spring of 2008 and graduated from Georgetown with a master’s degree in Sports Industry Management in hopes of raising concussion awareness. Kevin established the Heads ‘N Tales organization to share inspiring stories of perseverance in sports and in life, in hopes of helping others to overcome the obstacles thrown at them.
2016
Tommie Martino
Tommie Martino has brought a never-quit attitude to coaching youth sports, demonstrating for hundreds of athletes an enduring and life-changing perspective on winning and perseverance in a northern corner of our state.
Undeterred by his physical limitations, Martino started coaching while attending Vernon High School, working alongside teachers in physical education classes. Martino’s ability to connect with students led supervisors to pursue a permanent position for the young coach, despite a long-standing rule that precluded placing special needs adults in sports programs. A group of Vernon High School teachers and administrators stood up to these established norms and fought to give Martino an opportunity.
By 2012, Martino had spent so much time on the field with freshman, junior varsity and varsity football teams the Board of Education awarded him the title “Motivational Coach” for Vernon High School. Since then, Martino has coached basketball, lacrosse, baseball and golf in addition to his first love of football. During the summer, Martino also assists with Mad Dawg Lacrosse and SCARC Summer Experience Camp for individuals with disabilities.
For his dedication and service, in 2013 Martino received the Kris Michaels Award of Excellence, which is the highest athletic award an individual can receive at Vernon High School. The next year, this honor was not only given to Martino again, the name of the award was changed to the Kris Michaels/Tommie Martino Award of Excellence, for two handicapped young men with a passion for sports.
In 2014, Tommie also received the John Fisher Award for Senior Pride for Football.
2008
Bill Klika
In 1974, while teaching at Madison High School, Bill Klika started the FDU-Florham football program. Klika was only part time for the first seven years of the program’s history before coming on full-time at the beginning of the 1981 season. He retired from coaching in 1996 but came back for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. From 1984-1989, he led the Devils to the most wins in a six year period (28) and from 1992-1995 he guided FDU to 21 wins including a program-best 8-3 record in 1993. That 1993 team also qualified for the ECAC Playoffs for the first time in school history.
Klika earned the Metro Award, given by the Eastern Intercollegiate Football Organization, in both 1988 and 1994 for his contribution to college football. Over the course of his career, he has served on the NCAA Championship Committee (having served as the chair in 2002 and 2003), chaired the ECAC Selection Committee, and served on the Kodak All-American committee.
In May of 1989, Klika became only the second Director of Athletics in FDU-Florham history which is a position he still holds today. He is largely responsible for the building of the Ferguson Recreation Center, the home of FDU men’s and women’s basketball, and Robert T. Shields Field, the home of Devils football, field hockey, men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse. In 1996, Klika started the FDU-Florham Athletics Hall of Fame to honor past student-athletes and teams. One of his proudest accomplishments however, is starting six different athletic programs: women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, men’s swimming, women’s swimming, men’s cross country and women’s cross country.
Klika graduated from Colgate University in 1967, where he was a letterwinner in both football and lacrosse. He went on to earn his master’s degree from Colgate as well. Klika and his wife, Betty, reside in Neshanic Station, NJ. They have four children: Bill III, Melissa, Tim and Colin.
2007
Frank DiLeo
Morris County Daily Record sports editor Frank DiLeo is a graduate of St. Francis University in Loretto, Pa. He began his journalism career in 1997 as a sports copy editor and writer for the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown, Pa. From there, he moved on to become copy editor of the Courier News in Bridgewater, NJ. In 2000, DiLeo became the sports editor of the Daily Record.
At the Record, he manages a staff of eleven full-time employees. He is a columnist for local and national sporting events, and for entertainment. His is the lead designer on key break pages, and paginates high school football previews, the all-area section, and the New Jersey Cardinals preview. He created and designed the “Game,” a high school-only section that is produced live.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2005 “Best of Gannet” First Place, Key Topic Coverage; 2005 and 2004 “Gannett Well Done” First Place, Key Topic Coverage; 2003 Publishers Award for Excellence; and the 2003 New Jersey Press Association First Place for Innovation.
DiLeo lives with his wife and two children in Mt. Bethel, Pa.
2005
Tom Tinus
Tom Tinus coached youth football in Randolph for thirty-two years. Under Tinus’s coaching and guidance, his teams won twenty-seven championships and one co-championship. Twenty-five of the championships followed undefeated seasons.
Tinus started working with Randolph youth as an assistant coach on the Junior Varsity level. He has also been a head coach on the Super Peewee, Peewee, Junior Varsity, and Varsity levels.
Tinus served as Randolph’s Football Assistant Program Coordinator for eight years and Program Coordinator for seven years. He was a member of the Randolph Football Committee and Randolph Recreation Committee. He served as the vice president of the Morris County Midget Football League for two years and president for eight years.
Tom was honored in 1995, 1996, and 1997 as the Randolph Recreation Football Volunteer of the Year. In 2002 he was the recipient of Randolph’s lifetime achievement award for his may years of volunteer effort. In 2002 he was also inducted into the Morris County Midget Football League Hall Of Fame.
Tom has been married to his wife Donna for twenty-four years and they have raised sons, Stefan, Darren, Justin, and Brandon.
2003
Joseph Caruso
Caruso has coached Madison junior football for twenty-one years, beginning as an assistance coach in 1982 and in 1987 becoming the head coach at the Clinic level, and in 1991 the head coach at the Varsity level. During this time, he has won five league championships. In addition, Caruso coached the only major league team to go undefeated in a 23-0 1989 season.
Caruso has also been the vice president of the Madison Junior Football Program for eleven years, and a member of the Madison High School football booster club for twelve years. In 1999, he was the chairman for the Touchdowns for Tommy Fund, through which $50, 000 was raised for Tommy McCormick, a local football player diagnosed with Leukemia.
For the last seven years, Caruso has coached his three daughters in the Madison softball program, and for the last five years he has served on the softball executive board. He is actively involved in his daughters’ fast pitch softball teams the Morris County Belles and North Jersey Rocks.
Caruso lives with his wife Amy and daughters Rayna, Nikki, and Jillian. He has been a landscape contractor in Madison for the past twenty years.
1999
Boyd A. Sands
In September of 1993, Boyd A. Sands became the sixth Executive Director of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). The Association represents well over 420 public, parochial, and federated secondary schools and regulates interscholastic athletics in New Jersey.
Sands has been a teacher, attendance counselor, vice principal, principal, and superintendent of schools. He has coached football and baseball, and is a certified basketball and baseball/softball official. His early career in education began in Union County where he was employed by the New Providence schools and the Union County Regional High School District. From 1966 through 1993, Sands was on the administrative staff of the Southern Gloucester County Regional High School District serving as superintendent of schools from September 1971 to his employment at NJSIAA.
Sands is the past president of the New Jersey Council of Education, NJSIAA, South Jersey Regional Superintendents’ Association, Gloucester County Administrators Roundtable, New Jersey Baseball Umpires Association, and the Cum-Cape Board of Basketball Officials.
He served for many years on the executive committee of NJSIAA, two terms on the executive committee of the National Foundation of High School Associations, as well as serving on the executive committees of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators and the Curriculum Development Council for Southern New Jersey.
Currently, Sands serves on National Federation of State High School Associations committees as a subcommittee chairperson, and on the Strategic-Planning Committee, the Football Committee, the Marketing Committee, and the National Records Committee.
Sands has received the prestigious NJSIAA Award of Honor. He has been inducted into the South Jersey Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame and the Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame, and he has received the Distinguished American Award from the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the Citizens’ Award from the New Jersey Commission on Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities, and the Honorary Lifeguard Award from the Mayor of Atlantic City. Sands has been recognized by the IDEA Academy of Fellows as a Distinguished Educator and by the National Federation of Interscholastic Athletic Officials with their Outstanding Official Award.
Sands is a graduate of Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey. He earned an B.A. from Colby College in Maine and an M.A. from Kean College. He has also attended Appalachian State University, Montclair State College, Seton Hall University, Rowan College, and Rutgers University for post-graduate work.
Sands and his wife, Fran, have resided in Glassboro, New Jersey since 1966. They are the parents of daughters Susan, Nancy, Karen, and Lori, along with son, Michael, along with sixteen grandchildren.
1996
Curtis Anderson
In 1961 Curtis Anderson started working with local football youth at the Super Pee-Wee level where players won three championships within a five-year period. Anderson also coached at the varsity level for twenty years, where he continues to mold high-achieving teams from the smallest populations of Morris County midget football.
The success he brings to every level of football results from his desire for perfection, his ability to teach and motivate players, and his outstanding knowledge of football fundamentals. He also goes out of his way to listen to and provide assistance for players with school and personal problems.
In addition to coaching football, Anderson was the fifteen-year president and fourteen-year treasurer of the Wharton Amateur Athletic Association, a non-profit club that sponsors athletic programs in the community. Anderson participates in a large number of fund raising programs such as selling 50/50 tickets and soliciting advertisements from local businesses. He also has coached Little League baseball, and lives in Wharton with his wife Elaine, and three children, Brian, Sandra, and Curtis III.
1995
David Guida
While a member of the Parsippany Police Department, David Guida devoted much of his free time to the youth in his community. From 1960 to 1982, he worked with the Parsippany midgets as an assistant coach, head coach, and program director. During his time as head coach the midgets won 103 games and seven championships. Guida moved to the high school varsity level during the years 1988 and 1989 and served as an assistant coach for Morris Catholic High School.
Among awards given to Guida are the Morris County Midget Football League Hall of Fame, the Parsippany PAL citizen of the year, the Morris County All-Sports Associations Award, the Knights of Columbus policeman of the year, the Jaycee policeman of the year, and the UNICO citizen of the year. Guida served for eighteen years in the juvenile bureau of the Parsippany Police Department.
