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HADDONFIELD -- Jonathan Baxter still isn't sure if all of this is real.
He was introduced to a crowd of family, friends and faculty in the Haddonfield high school library as one of 20 students across the country who were selected by the U.S. Army and the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the Award of Excellence.
The winner will attend the NFL Hall of Fame weekend festivities in August with the winner being chosen during the weekend. In attendance at Monday's ceremony was athletic director Lefteris Banos, longtime Haddonfield tennis head coach Jeffrey Holman and members of the U.S. Army. Pro Football Hall of Famer, Jack Youngblood, was also there. Youngblood played 14 seasons for the Los Angeles Rams and was inducted in 2001.
Even though it was only for a little while before and after the ceromony, Baxter left an impression on the hall of famer.
"He could play on my team, let’s put it that way," Youngblood said.
Baxter, a senior, was the starting goalkeeper and team captain of the boys' soccer team and also played on the basketball team. He will be attending The College of New Jersey for engineering in the fall and just this week, earned his Eagle Scout badge.
"He was tremendous for us," said Haddonfield boys soccer head coach, Ryan Nixon. "He really as a sophomore stepped in as a young kid and made the goalkeeping position his own and really just excelled for three years.
"The one thing I think Jon had was quality of leadership and depth of character. He was the type of kid I could count on in any game situation and off the field, too."
