The 2008 Play It Smart scholarship winners with Chapter President Dennis Caniglia and Director of Athletics for the Atlanta Public School System, Billette Owens Ashford.

The NFF Greater Atlanta Chapter recognized nine Play It Smart participants at it recent scholar-athlete banquet. It was a great moment for Play It Smart, with the group claiming nine of 48 scholarships awarded. The recipients posed for photos with Chapter President Dennis Caniglia and Director of Athletics for the Atlanta Public School System, Billette Owens Ashford, and they also had a chance to meet Gary Stokan, President of the Chick-fil-A Bowl, and Matt Stinchcomb, former University of Georgia and NFL standout. Stinchcomb won the National Football Foundation Draddy Trophy in 1998, given to the top college scholar-athlete in the country.

The NFF Greater Atlanta Chapter provides key support for the NFF’s Play It Smart program in the area, joining the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which has committed $180,000 annually to staff each of the nine Atlanta Public High Schools with an academic coach. The Atlanta schools include Frederick Douglass HS, Henry W. Grady HS, Benjamin E. Mays HS, North Atlanta HS, South Atlanta HS, Maynard Jackson HS, D.M. Therrell Educational Complex, New Schools at Carver, and Booker T. Washington HS.