Simone Awards

2021 Simone Awards Finalists announcement

Thomas A. Simone Memorial Football Awards are presented to the most outstanding players in Greater Kansas City.

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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

McCarthy Auto Group, a family owned &amp; operated business with 11 automotive dealerships in and around the Kansas City Metro area are proud to announce that they are now the Presenting Sponsor of the Thomas A. Simone Memorial Football Awards. To top off their participation as the Presenting Sponsor, the automotive group is awarding the award winner with a $5,000 college scholarship.
McCarthy Auto Group has been a long-time supporter of high school football programs and athletes in the Metro Area. McCarthy is a founding sponsor of PrepsKC, a media outlet for Kansas City high school football, as well as a patron for 23 $1,000 college scholarships at the annual Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association Scholar Banquet. McCarthy&rsquo;s commitment to investing in athletics and continuing education is what drew them to sponsor this year&rsquo;s prestigious Simone Awards. The recipient of this award is selected by high school football coaches and select media members based on excellence on the playing field.
&ldquo;Our goal is to grow and support the amazing tradition of the Simone awards on a 12-month basis,&rdquo; says McCarthy Chief Marketing Officer, Karl A. Kramer. &ldquo;Like the Simone Family, the McCarthy Auto Group believes in young student athletes and the amazing contributions they pour into our communities.&rdquo;
The awards now have a new website and increased social media presence that will be updated with new content on former winners, the awards impact on the community and work done by the Simone/Fontana Foundation.
&ldquo;On behalf of the Thomas A. Simone Awards and the Simone Family, we are pleased to announce a new partnership with the McCarthy Auto Group,&rdquo; Charlie Simone said speaking for the family. &ldquo;As an established automotive icon, The McCarthy Auto Group&rsquo;s commitment to serving Kansas Citians for over 20 years promotes the foundation of the award: Love, Courage, Friendship, Champions. This valuable partnership will grow the Thomas A. Simone Award&rsquo;s outreach and support of High School Football in the Greater KC Metro Area.&rdquo;
To find out more about the McCarthy Auto Group and their community sponsorships, visit https://www.mccarthyautogroup.com/community-involvement. For more information on the Thomas A. Simone Memorial Football award, visit https://thesimoneawards.com/about-us.

The McCarthy Auto Group is the presenting sponsor

Simone Awards announce new partnership

Tommy Simone had much to live for&mdash;a close supportive family; good friends; excellent grades; athletic talent; maturity beyond his 12 years.
Most visual in Tommy&rsquo;s life were achievements in sports.
He simply excelled -- whatever the sport, whatever the season. Football marked his fall, basketball his winter, baseball his spring and summer.
Tommy combined uncommon athletic prowess with a drive to succeed that was rare for his age. He drilled over and over to perfect his skills.
His own and rival coaches conceded that the happy, modest youngster caused a lasting impression -- wherever he competed.
Tommy lost his life in mid-April. He was struck by a police patrol wagon, hurrying to answer a distress call, as he crossed Independence Avenue near the Monroe Avenue intersection in the early evening.
Darkness and the speed of the vehicle, dispatched on a &ldquo;Code 3&rdquo; (without flashing lights or sirens) hampered vision of Tommy, wearing his baseball sweatsuit, and the driver.
The Northland boy is remembered as the kid everybody liked.
He smiled a lot, he was a modest hard-worker, he sidestepped arguments with teammates. His baseball coach, Clay Green, said Tommy&rsquo;s special gift was that he gave back whatever he received -- respect, love, friendship.
Green watched Tommy develop from a mediocre pitcher for Lightfoot Photography in the Clay-Platte Baseball League to an outstanding one. The coach recalls countless hours Tommy pitched to his father Anthony, his pitching coach.
Basketball coach Tom Laughlin, who guided Tommy for four seasons in the Metro Parochial League, can&rsquo;t remember a missed practice. Tommy was a sixth-grade center last winter for the team at St. Patrick&rsquo;s Church, where he was an alter boy and straight A church school student.
Laughlin, who also coached Tommy in two seasons of flag football, remembers a team player, team leader and confidence-builder, who never took advantage of a size edge and never backed away from larger opponents.
After Tommy&rsquo;s death, a rival center, a year older and taller, wrote Tommy&rsquo;s parents that their son was the most-threatening opponent he had ever faced, including boys his own age.
Rival basketball coach Warren Roberson of St. Therese describes Tommy as the best his teams ever played against. Roberson was struck by the youth&rsquo;s pleasant manner and lack of conceit.
Tommy stands at the top of the best player he has handled for line coach Raymond &ldquo;Lefty&rdquo; Leftridge of the Norbank Raiders. Leftridge recalls a fine young man, always smiling and in control of his anger, who played with full-speed aggressiveness.
He earned a berth on the A team, as an offensive tackle and defensive end, when most kids his age were playing in lower classes.
Between games, Tommy practiced with help from his parents and encouragement of his sister Savina, 10, a softball player and the bat girl for Lightfoot.
The Simones&rsquo; other child at the time of Tommy&rsquo;s death is Rosemarie, who was six months old. The Simones had two more sons Anthony Jr. and Charlie who would both go on to play football at St. Pius X and win the Bobby Bell Award as the top small school lineman or linebacker.
Tommy pitched to his dad until dusk the day of his death.
The Tom Simone Memorial Scholarship Fund and incorporated charitable foundation honors Tommy annually with awards to area scholar-athletes.
Tommy&rsquo;s dozen years form a vivid legacy for his contemporaries.

Awarded to the most oustanding high school football players in Greater Kansas City

Thomas A. Simone Memorial Football Awards

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2021 Simone Awards Finalists announcement

Thomas A. Simone Memorial Football Awards