Established in 1971, the San Diego chapter of the National Football Federation (NFF) honors contributors to amateur football, be it as a player, coach or game official.
On March 27, the NFF San Diego chapter awarded USA Football's Tom Bass with the Contribution to Amateur Football Award for his commitment to teaching the game through authoring several youth football coaching books and for his involvement in dozens of coaching clinics since his retirement from coaching.
Bass has served USA Football and its members as an advisor and writer since 2003. He has been a key contributor to USA Football's Certified Coaching Education Program (CCEP) and Coaches Handbook as well as several online coaching member benefits, including the Drills Library and Film Room.
Author of usafootball.com's "Let's Talk Football" and "Ask the Coach" question-and-answer columns, Bass has served as defensive coordinator for San Diego State and San Jose State and contributed to NFL coaching staffs for the Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his 30-year career.
"Coach Bass puts his 30 years of NFL coaching experience toward educating youth players, coaches and parents today," said Brian Fogerty, the President of the San Diego NFF chapter. "It's even more special for us because he adds a national profile to the local flavor of our awards ceremony."
Each chapter of the National Football Foundation has an awards banquet similar to the national banquet to honor local players and coaches. Approximately 30 local athletes were honored at the San Diego banquet in March.
Not one to brag of his own accolades, Bass simply stated that he was "honored" when told that he had received the distinction.
Gain Coach Bass' insight and visit "Coach Bass Columns" under the blue "Coaches" tab on usafootball.com. Coaching members may also pose questions for him through usafootball.com's "Ask the Expert" feature.
