Feb. 26, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - University of Dayton football player Brandon Cramer was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship Tuesday. Cramer is the sixth Flyer football player and 12th UD student-athlete ever to receive such an honor.

Cramer, a pre-med major with a 4.00 GPA, will use the one-time $7,500 scholarship to attend Ohio State Medical School next fall. The Toledo, Ohio native joins former football players Tim Quinn (1973), Roy Gordon (1976), Mike Pignatiello (1982), Dan Sharley (1990) and Mark Kasmer (2002) to be awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. Six other UD student-athletes have been honored by the NCAA including Jim Paxson (men's basketball, 1979), Lorraine Fritsch (field hockey, 1982), Larry Schellenberg (men's basketball, 1985), Carla Munz (volleyball, 2001), Erin Treadway (volleyball, 2003) and Rob Altenau (men's tennis, 2005). In addition, former football players Frank Conliffe (1967) and Chris Chaney (1982) were selected as alternates to receive the honor.

Cramer had already been named UD's first-ever ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American of the Year, an Academic All-American for the third straight year, a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete and a finalist for the Draddy Award, which is sometimes referred to as the "academic Heisman." He was also one of two Flyers named to the 2007 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Athletics Directors Association (ADA) Academic All-Star team and a finalist for a FCS ADA postgraduate scholarship.

A team captain of the FCS Mid-Major National Champion Flyer Football team, Cramer led Dayton to one of its best seasons ever in 2007. UD won the PFL Championship and defeated Albany, 42-21 in the Gridiron Classic bowl game to conclude an 11-1 season. Cramer was fifth on the team with 60 tackles including 34 solo stops, which was second best on a Flyer defense that finished second in FCS in rushing defense (allowing just 75.4 yards per game), fourth in total defense (271.5 yards), fourth in scoring defense (15.6 points) and seventh in tackles for loss. Cramer also tallied two interceptions and seven passes defended during his senior season.

Fifty-eight NCAA student-athletes were awarded educational grants through the NCAA postgraduate scholarship program. The winners (29 men and 29 women) represent fall-sports participants who will receive one-time, nonrenewable grants of $7,500. The NCAA will name postgraduate scholars for winter and spring sports later this year.

The scholarships are awarded to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their final year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The Association awards up to 174 postgraduate scholarships annually, 87 for men and 87 for women.

The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship was created in 1964 to promote and encourage postgraduate education by rewarding the Association's most accomplished student-athletes through their participation in NCAA championship and/or emerging sports. For more information about the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, go to the Diversity and Inclusion link under the About the NCAA tab at www.ncaa.org.