Kloutis, Thompson to be honored at Scholar Athlete Dinner
Before they start playing high school football, somebody needs to train them on the lower levels. If they are fortunate enough to go on and play in college, someone needs to look after their physical well-being.
Mercer County has two of the best in those areas, which is why longtime PAL and Pop Warner coach George Kloutis and Princeton Head Athletic Trainer Charlie Thompson will be honored at the 57th Annual George Wah Scholar-LeaderAthlete Dinner, sponsored by The Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.
Kloutis will receive the Contribution to Youth Football Award, while Simpson will take home the George O’Gorman Contribution to Amateur Football award.
The dinner is Mar. 10, 4 p.m., at the Princeton Marriott. Players from 22 schools will be honored with $1,000 scholarships, while three special winners will receive the $5,000 Jack Stephan Scholarship, the $2,500 Ron Rick Sr. Scholarship, and the $1,500 Ed Cook Scholarship.
For tickets or ad book information, contact Ron Hoehn at 609-731-6610.
Colonial Valley Conference players being honored are Nick Campbell (Allentown), James Kim (Ewing), Eddie Fennell IV (Hamilton West), Michael Quigg (Hightstown), Steven Doldy (Hopewell Valley), Krystian Hajduczka (Lawrence), Evan Collins (Notre Dame), Robbie Bennett (Nottingham), Connor Coffee (Princeton), Paul Milo (Robbinsville), Tim Toomer (Steinert), Aaron Bennett (Trenton) and Brian Zhong (West Windsor-Plainsboro).
Mercer County prep school honorees are Malcolm Brunson (Hun), Diassa Diakite (Lawrenceville), David Harris (Peddie) and Brandon West (Pennington). Area school athletes being recognized will be Jack Parker (Bordentown), John Woolston (Florence), Connor Healy (New Egypt) and John Stothoff (North Hunterdon).
Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri will receive the Robert F. Casciola Distinguished American Award, Florence High’s Joe Frappolli is the Hank Johns Coach Award winner, Abe Johnson the Jack Millard Officials Award winner. The Nick Gusz Good Guy Award goes to Trenton High Athletic Director Sharron Grady, and Jack Rice is the Little Scholar honoree. Other awards will go to Brian Pitts (Eunice Kennedy Shriver Champion), Max Busca (TCNJ’s Earl H. Dean Scholar-Leader-Athlete), Tom Johnson (Princeton University Judge Arthur Lane Scholar-LeaderAthlete) and Santuzza Oilers (Tony Persichilli Meritorious Service Award).
Thompson is in his second stint with Princeton, having been the head trainer since 1999 after serving as an assistant trainer from 198285. Unlike many college programs that feature an army of trainers, Thompson, Assistant Head Trainer George O’Neil and Trainer Dan Jarvis handle every health issue on game days and during practice, and also tend to everything from physicals to rehabilitation.
Rather than report to coaches, Princeton’s athletic medicine staff is considered health care providers who report to Princeton’s health center services.
“It gives you separation. It gives you autonomy,” Thompson told Rebeccah Barger of princetontigersfootball.com in a 2016 article. “We work very hard to put people back on the field when they’re ready. If I tell them it’s safe for them to go out, they’ll believe it’s safe for them to go out. That’s big part of what we do – trust. We work very hard to put people back on the field when they’re ready. We’re pushing these kids as hard as they can to get them healthy to play, not just getting them on the field, but healthy.”
Thompson has done it well during what was a welltraveled career before making Princeton home for the past 20 years.
A Rhode Island native and University of Rhode Island graduate, Charlie received an MS in Athletic Training from the University of Arizona in 1981. He started as a trainer at Catalina High in Arizona and Leander High in Texas, sandwiched around his first tenure at Princeton and two years as assistant trainer and then head trainer at the University of Pittsburgh. He served as URI’s head trainer for three years, was assistant trainer at Penn State for seven years and head trainer at University of Maine before returning to Princeton. He was inducted into the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) Hall of Fame in 2013.
Thompson has been the NATA Honors and Awards Committee Chair since 2016, was the NATA Liaison to the American Football Coaches Association from 2012-15 and part of the NATA Helmet Contact Work Group from 2012-15. He has been the feature speaker at numerous prestigious events and has had several articles published.
Kloutis, a three-year football letter-winner at Steinert and a shot put thrower on the Spartans 1988 Group III state champs, graduated from New York Institute of Technology and currently works for the New Jersey School Development Authority as a Senior Project Officer overseeing construction of assigned schools.
His love of youth football and desire to make young men into good people and players is unquestioned.
George began coaching in 1995, when he, Bud Ralston and John McCabe helped form the Hamilton Pop Warner program. After serving as an assistant for the Nottingham team, Kloutis took a six-year break after his son was born in 1999, and then coached Steinert’s Pop Warner team for two years. He received a Dedication and Appreciation Award from the league and was inducted into the Pop Warner Hall of Fame in 2005.
Kloutis did not rest on his honors. He went on to coach in the Hamilton PAL Football League for seven years, and helped organize the annual Blue-Gray game. In 2014 he received a second Dedication and Appreciation Award for his work with PAL. Kloutis also spearheaded fund-raising for the Steinert High program to purchase new equipment for the weight room, and in the first year nearly $10,000 was raised.
This past fall, Kloutis expanded beyond the Hamilton border and served as an assistant coach for the Lawrence Cardinals of the West Jersey Youth Football League. The Cards went 8-2 and won a playoff game.
“The most satisfying part to me was that we had players from different towns that came together as one team, played as a family, and were successful,” said Kloutis, who plans on returning to the Cardinals next year.
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