Simone Awards

Liberty North&rsquo;s Melvin Laster was named the winner of the Buck Buchanan Award given to the best large &nbsp;school offensive/defensive lineman or linebacker.
The sophomore linebacker was announced as the winner on KSHB 41 during the 6 p.m. Newscast. The Buchanan Award is one of the five major awards given out by the Simone Awards presented by The McCarthy Auto Group.
"I never thought I'd be in this position today&rdquo; Laster said. &ldquo;I've been working for it my whole life basically, since second grade. I've always had this dream and stuff, so it feels great."
Laster helped lead the Eagles to their first every football state championship game. Liberty North fell to CBC in the Missouri Class 6 title game but it was the first football team in the 115-year history of the Liberty School District to make a championship game.
This past season he was named the Suburban Gold Defensive Player of the Year after being all-Conference as a freshman. Laster finished with 78 solo tackles with 7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
The other finalists for the Buchanan Award were Lee's Summit North offensive lineman Armand Membou, North Kansas City defensive lineman Domonique Orange, and Park Hill South offensive/defensive lineman James Williams.

Sophomore wins honor as top big school OL/DL/LB

2021 Buck Buchanan Awarded to Liberty North's Melvin Laster

Below is the 2022 All-Simone team as selected by the Simone Committee.
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Jordan Allen, Sr, TE/DE, Olathe South
Briggs Bartosh, Sr., QB/RB, Park Hill South
Kendrick Bell, Sr., QB, Park Hill
Zach Darche, Sr., QB/LB, Blue Valley West
Cayden Green, Sr., OL, Lee's Summit North
Edric Hill, Sr., DL, North Kansas City
Dawson Kindler, Jr., RB, Gardner-Edgerton
Malik O'Atis, Sr., RB, Shawnee Mission Northwest
Grant Stubblefield, Sr., RB, Blue Valley Northwest
Sam Van Dyne, Sr., QB, Liberty North
PJ Adebawore, Sr., DL, North Kansas City
Aidan Behymer, Sr., OL/DL, Blue Valley Northwest
Dylan Birge, Sr., OL, Olathe West
Alex Gunderson, Sr., LB, Olathe North
Melvin Laster, Jr., LB, Liberty North
Logan Reichert, Sr., OL, Raytown
Jayden Woods, So., DE, Mill Valley
Mac Armstrong, Sr., QB, Bishop Miege
Brayden Bush, Jr., RB/LB, Pleasant Hill
Sean Carroll, Sr., RB, St. Thomas Aquinas
Zach Grace, Sr., TE/RB/QB, Kearney
Jesse Greenly IV, Sr., RB, Atchison
Andrew Hedgecorth, Sr., QB, Smithville
Trevor Klein, Jr., RB, East Buchanan
Octavius Lyles, Sr., RB, Eudora
Zane Palmer, Sr., RB, Odessa
Joseph Vick, Sr., QB, Center
Camden Beebe, Sr., OL/DL, Piper
Levi Cooley, Sr., OL, Basehor-Linwood
Hunter McCoy, Sr., C/DE, Lafayette County
Wade Spencer, Sr., DL, St. James Academy
Ashton Moore, So., LB, Louisburg
Jeremy Schleicher, Jr., OL, Bishop Miege
Carter Schmidt, Sr., OL, Kearney
Dawson Strickland, Sr., DL, Smithville
Dirac Tsafack, Sr., LB, Center
Isaiah Coppage, Sr., WR, Bishop Miege
A'Quan Dunbar, Sr., WR, Shawnee Mission South
Larenzo Fenner, Sr., WR, Fort Osage
Lexton Graftke, Jr., WR, Lansing
Tommy Lapour, Sr., TE, Blue Springs South
Josh Manning, Sr., WR, Lee's Summit
Isaiah Mozee, So., WR, Lee's Summit North
John Niesen, Sr., WR, St. James Academy
Jaden Reddell, Jr., WR, Raymore-Peculiar
Armand Russell, Sr., WR, Center
Antonio Harrison, Sr., RB, Sumner
Reggie Mitchem, Sr., DL, Hogan Prep Academy

This year's honorees as selected by the Simone Committee

2022 All Simone Team

The season is just around the corner and players across the Metro will start chasing championships. When the dust has settled champions will be crowned and individual honors will be awarded.
No individual honor is bigger than the annual Thomas A. Simone Award given to the top all-around football player in the Kansas City Metro. Since 1983 the award has symbolized excellence on and off the field.
When the season is over all the awards under The Simone Awards presented by The McCarthy Auto group will be awarded at the winner&rsquo;s high school.
We are a few months away from that happening and games have yet to be played. This season we are going to highlight some of the top players who could be candidates for The Simone Award in our weekly Simone Watch. Each week we will highlight players who are making waves and putting their name in the conversation for all the awards given out by the foundation.
Our first Simone Watch looks at the biggest award of them all the Thomas A. Simone Award. Here are some names to keep an eye on as the season goes on.
Traditional candidates The award has been given out times and 30 of those awards have gone to a running back or quarterback. Here are some names to keep an eye on this year.
Sam Van Dyne, Sr., QB, Liberty North Briggs Bartosh, Sr., RB, Park Hill South Grant Stubblefield, Sr., RB, Blue Valley Northwest Hayden Jay, Sr., QB, Mill Valley Sage Huffman, Jr., RB, Blue Valley West Mason McGavran, Sr., QB, Olathe West Dylan Dunn, Jr., QB, Blue Valley Southwest James Noel, Sr., RB, Park Hill Quincey Baker, Sr., RB, Lee&rsquo;s Summit North Greg Lyles, Sr., RB, Belton
This is a deep pool of talent. Van Dyne was a finalist last year and would look to be one to watch this year. Stubblefield was a key member of Northwest&rsquo;s state championship team and could be the second straight Husky to win the award after Mikey Pauley took home the honor last season. There are several others that had strong junior seasons and will now look to lead their teams to great heights in 2022.
Receivers and Athletes There have been a few receivers or overall athletes that have taken home the honor and this year there is a group of very talented players who could break through.
Ricky Ahumaraeze, Sr., WR, Liberty Jaydin Doss, Sr., RB/WR, Raymore Peculiar Larenzo Fenner, Sr., WR/KR, Fort Osage Josh Manning, Sr., WR, Lee&rsquo;s Summit Malik O&rsquo;Atis, Sr., WR/RB, SM Northwest
Linemen or defensive players There have been just a couple of players who either put their hand in the dirt or play on the defensive side, but it can happen. This year has a group that could make some noise.
Chandavian Bradley, Sr., DE, Platte County Adepoju Adebawore, Sr., DE, North Kansas City Cayden Green, Sr., OL, Lee&rsquo;s Summit North Melvin Laster, Jr., LB, Liberty North, LB
While it may be rare that a lineman or defense player wins, this could be a group that gets it done. These four are easily the most highly recruited players in the Metro. The three seniors have committed to top 25 programs and Laster was the winner of the Buck Buchanan Award given to the top lineman or linebacker last year as a sophomore.
Small school player No player from a Class 1-4 team has ever won The Simone Award but that doesn&rsquo;t mean it can&rsquo;t happen.
Mac Armstrong, Sr., QB, Bishop Miege Jacorey Love, Jr., RB, Center Sean Carroll, Sr., RB, St. Thomas Aquinas Trevor Klein, Jr., RB, East Buchanan
Carroll was a contender last year when Aquinas was in Kansas 5A. The two junior running backs could be in a position to put up eyepopping numbers on teams that will be very good this season.

Taking a look at some of the players who could bring home the trophy in 2022

Simone Watch

The Thomas A. Simone Memorial Football Awards Presented by The McCarthy Auto Group is presented annually to the most outstanding high school football player in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area. The award was originally established in 1932 in the name of Dr. D.M. Nigro and continued until Dr. Nigro&rsquo;s death in 1976.
No award was given from 1976-83, until Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Simone, as a tribute to their 12-year old son Tommy, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident in April 1983, reinstated the award.
The recipient of this prestigious award is selected by a vote of the high school football coaches and select media members in the metropolitan area. The award is given to the football player most representative of excellence on the playing field.
The trophy presented symbolizes the qualities of love, courage and friendship &ndash; qualities young Tommy so aptly displayed.
Along with the trophy, which resides at the high school of the recipient for a period of one year, the Simone-Fontana Foundation presents a donation of $1,500 to the athletic department of the recipients&rsquo; high school.
Past winners are a who&rsquo;s, who of Kansas City High School football. Including Olathe North&rsquo;s Darren Sproles who played in the NFL for more than a decade, Lee&rsquo;s Summit&rsquo;s Drew Lock who is the quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks and Fort Osage&rsquo;s Skylar Thompson who was recently drafted by the Miami Dolphins.
For 10 years The Simone Award was the only honor given by the Simone Foundation. The awards expanded to honor defensive players along with offensive linemen. The Junious &ldquo;Buck&rdquo; Buchanan Memorial Award was established in 1992 and is presented annually to the most outstanding lineman or linebacker in the big class (Missouri Classes 5-6 and Kansas Classes 5A-6A) category. From 1992-99, the award was given to one Missouri and one Kansas player, but the award has only been given to the most outstanding player since 2000.
Buck Buchanan was the first player taken in the 1963 American Football League Draft. Selected by the Kansas City Chiefs, Buck quickly proved the rave notices that preceded him were not unfounded. Eddie Robinson, his coach at Grambling, where he had been an NAIA All-America in 1962, called him &ldquo;the finest lineman I have seen.&rdquo;
The Buchanan Award has quite the roster of winners. In the last decade several winners such as Lee&rsquo;s Summit West&rsquo;s Evan Boehm and Blue Springs&rsquo; Elijah Lee and Carlos Davis have gone on to have NFL careers. Lee currently plays for the Chiefs while Davis is with the Pittsburg Steelers.
A few years later the awards expanded again. The Frank Fontana Memorial Award was established in 1999 in memory of Frank Fontana, an outstanding athlete who excelled in football and basketball. In 1981, Frank captained the State Champion St. Pius X High School football team. He was also selected to the all-Northland team that year. In basketball, he captained the Warriors&rsquo; squad.
Many small school quarterbacks and running backs have earned this honor. The Fontana elevated players who may have gone underrecognized with an award of their own. Some fantastic seasons have been honored including Holden&rsquo;s Max Mickey who ran for 3,382 yards which was a Missouri state record at that time and Bishop Miege&rsquo;s Carter Putz who set the Kansas passing record during his career with the Stags.
In 2000 another defensive/offensive lineman award was added to honor small school players. The Bobby Bell Award was established and is presented annually to the most outstanding defensive lineman/linebacker in the small class (Missouri Classes 1-4 and Kansas Classes 1A-4A) category.
The award is named for former Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro and Pro Football Hall of Fame player Bobby Bell. Bobby Bell was the most highly honored college lineman of the 1962 season. His coach at the University of Minnesota described the two-time All-America choice and Outland Trophy winner as &ldquo;the greatest lineman I have ever seen.&rdquo;
This honor has been given to some of the best players in the Metro who just don&rsquo;t go to a big school. Winners include Tommy Simone&rsquo;s younger brothers Anthony Jr. and Charlie and Center&rsquo;s Maliek Collins who currently plays for the Las Vegas Raiders.
The awards grew again in 2007. At the suggestion of high school football referee Curtis Whiters, the Simone-Fontana Foundation contacted Otis Taylor family friend and Kansas City icon Ollie Gates about starting the Otis Taylor Award to recognize the most outstanding wide receiver/tight end in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Ollie took the idea to Otis Taylor and his family, who gave the award their blessing.
Otis Taylor was one of the best and most exciting wide receivers of his era. He played in three AFC-NFC Pro Bowls, following the 1970-72 seasons. At the conclusion of his career he owned the Kansas City Chiefs&rsquo; career records for receiving yards (7,306), receiving touchdowns (57) and 100-yard receiving games (20). He is currently a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Some of the most athletic players in the Metro have won this award including Lee&rsquo;s Summit West&rsquo;s Monte Harrison who is currently playing Major League Baseball with the Los Angeles Angels and current Michigan star receiver Ronnie Bell who also won the Simone Award after his senior season at Park Hill.
In the last decade several more awards have been added. In 2010 the All-Simone Team was added bringing even more recognition to Metro football players. In 2011 the Nathan Stiles Inspiration Award began and is given to a person who has made an impact on football in the Metro. The Stiles Award is in memory of Spring Hill player Nathan Stiles who passed away after being injured in a game in 2010. In 2011 the foundation began honoring the offensive and defensive players of the year from the Kansas City Missouri School District Interscholastic League to bring more recognition to inner-city football.&nbsp; Other awards that are handed out are the Gordon Docking Media Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
This past year one of the biggest changes occurred when The McCarthy Auto Group became the presenting sponsor of the awards. In May the first McCarthy Auto Group/Simone Foundation scholarship was awarded to Sumner's Rickey Brown who earned $5,000 for his work on the field and as a leader in the Sumner athletic programs.
This honor will continue and be awarded in the spring with the winner recognized at the Simone Awards ceremony after the football season.
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From one award to honoring dozens The Simone Awards are a staple of Kansas City High School Football 

Honoring the best

Tuesday at Sumner Academy a new award of the Simone Awards presented by The McCarthy Auto Group began.
The first Simone Awards/McCarthy Auto Group Scholarship was awarded to the Sabres&rsquo; Rickey Brown. He was recognized at school and awarded with a one-time $5,000 scholarship to help him as he begins his college career in the fall.
&ldquo;When McCarthy Auto Group became the presenting sponsor of The Simone Awards, we knew we wanted to incorporate a scholarship for a graduating Senior that is also been playing football for one of the schools within the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association,&rdquo; Karl Kramer Chief Marketing Officer of The McCarthy Auto Group said. &ldquo;High School scholarships are a core part of the community/philanthropic efforts of McCarthy Auto Group.&nbsp; In 2022, we will be blessed to award 76 individual scholarships, across the communities that we serve.&rdquo;
&ldquo;The vast majority of the scholarships we award go to support and lift up those students that might be caught in the middle.&nbsp; They are kids with great character and feel that supporting others and their communities as a whole is very rewarding.&nbsp; They also might be a B or C student but will most likely be a great community/business leader in the future.
Brown has excelled in the classroom and in athletics since coming to Sumner as an eighth grader. He is a three-time letter winner in football and a state qualifier in track. This summer Brown will play in the GKCFCA All-Star Game. Off the field he has taken college level courses and maintained a 3.2 GPA.
When Kramer, Charlie Simone and members of the coaching staff and administration entered Brown&rsquo;s Biology class he said he didn&rsquo;t know what was going on.
&ldquo;It just means a lot coming from Wyandotte County and not having all the money in the world,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;Them taking a chance and giving me any money at all I&rsquo;m in grateful for everything they did for me today. That entrance in class, I had just got done taking a quiz and it is still blowing my mind right now.&rdquo;
In his nomination Sumner Head Coach Andrew Wright said Brown was very deserving of the honor.
&ldquo;He is a tremendous young man who has had a difficult year,&rdquo; Wright said. &ldquo;He lost his father earlier this fall from cancer. He is a quiet kid, and we really did not find out until his dad had already passed.&nbsp; His father was also a Sumner Academy graduate. Again, he is a great young man who I am very proud of.&nbsp; He represents our school and community with the highest integrity.&nbsp; He will do great things in whatever he choices to do in life.&rdquo;
The new scholarship is a part of The McCarthy Auto Group becoming the Presenting Sponsor of the Simone Awards last year. Brown is the first recipient and he will be honored again at the next Simone Awards Ceremony following the 2022 high school football season.
Charlie Simone said this scholarship is import to the Thomas A. Simone Foundation because it allows the foundation and The McCarthy Auto Group help a student athlete that might be missed.
&ldquo;We give awards out to some of the best high school football athletes in the Kansas City area,&rdquo; Simone said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m actually grateful for Karl and The McCarthy Auto Group to actually bring on some awards as this one. As much as the Awards have grown and as big as Kansas City is, there are some gems that slip through the cracks. This gives us an opportunity to find that person.&rdquo;

Senior is honored with a one-time $5,000 gift

Sumner's Brown earns first McCarthy Auto Group/Simone scholarship

2021 All Simone Team as selected by the Simone Awards Committee.
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Offense
Player, Year, Pos, Team
Tre Baker, Sr., QB, Lee's Summit North
Jet Dineen, Sr., QB/S, Lawrence Free State
Greyson Holbert, Sr., QB, Blue Valley
Hayden Jay, Jr., QB, Mill Valley
Henry Martin, Sr., QB, Blue Valley North
Jacob Parrish, Sr., WR/CB, Olathe North
Mikey Pauley, Sr., QB, Blue Valley Northwest
Blake Reeder, Sr., QB, Shawnee Mission Northwest
Sam Van Dyne, Jr., QB, Liberty North
Wentric Williams III, Sr., RB, Liberty
Keyshaun Elliott, Sr., QB, Richmond
Andrew Hedgecorth, Jr., QB, Smithville
Blake Heitman, Sr., RB, Odessa
Jackson House, Jr., QB, St. James Academy
Jack Mosh, Sr., QB, St. Pius X
John Price, Soph., RB, Lincoln Prep
Jace Reynolds, Sr., RB, Harrisonville
Easton Roe, Jr., QB, Pleasant Hill
Zach Sisemore, Sr., RB, Basehor-Linwood
Joseph Vick, Jr., QB, Center
Dylan Birge, Jr., OL, Olathe West
Michael Capria, Sr., OL, Liberty
Armand Membou, Sr., OT, Lee's Summit North
Levi Cooley, Jr., OL, Basehor-Linwood
Wyatt Leyda, Sr., OL, Pleasant Hill
Zach Atkins, Sr., WR, Blue Valley Southwest
Devin Blayney, Sr., WR, Lee's Summit North
Tyler Claiborne, Sr., WR, St. James Academy
Cannon Clark, Sr., WR, University Academy
Andre Davis, Jr., WR, Blue Valley
Josh Manning, Jr., WR, Lee's Summit
Mudia Reuben, Sr., WR, Park Hill South
Mason Rumsey, Sr., WR, Lafayette County
Ethan Schultze, Sr., WR, DeSoto
Lincoln Sprouse, Sr., WR, Summit Christian Academy
Blake Craig, Jr., K, Liberty North
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Defense
Player, Year, Pos, Team
Zach Darche, Jr., LB, Blue Valley West
Melvin Laster, Soph., LB, Liberty North
Jalen Marshall, Sr., DL, St. Thomas Aquinas
Domonique Orange, Sr., DL, North Kansas City
Gabe Peterson, Sr., OL/DL, Blue Valley Northwest
Trevor Scott, Sr., LB, Platte County
James Williams, Sr., OL/DL, Park Hill South
Camden Beebe, Jr., OL/DL, Piper
Daniel Brown, Sr., LB, Bishop Ward
Aidan Coons, Sr., DE, St. Pius X
Caden Crawford, Sr., LB, Lansing
Antonio Jones, Sr., LB, Lincoln Prep
Caden Rhamy, Sr., LB, Paola
Cody Simoncic, Sr., LB, Smithville
Wade Spencer, Jr., DL, St. James Academy
Mason Love, Soph., P, Park Hill South
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2021 Buck Buchanan Awarded to Liberty North's Melvin Laster

2022 All Simone Team

Simone Watch

Honoring the best

Sumner's Brown earns first McCarthy Auto Group/Simone scholarship

2021 All-Simone Team

Thomas A. Simone Memorial Football Awards