The 40th Annual Blair Cherry Award, presented annually to an outstanding college football player from the Amarillo Independent School District, will be announced at 11:45 a.m. today at Amarillo Country Club.

The award, sponsored by the Amarillo Palo Duro Chapter of the American Business Club, is named for the former Amarillo High and University of Texas head football coach. Cherry guided the Sandies to three consecutive state championships from 1934-36 and later coached Texas to a Southwest Conference title. He died in 1966.

The Blair Cherry Award was first presented in 1969 to Tascosa's Danny Lester, who played a key role on the Texas Longhorns' 1969 national championship team. Lester also won the award in 1970 and is among four two-time winners. The others are James Mayberry of Tascosa and Colorado (1977-78), William Thomas of Palo Duro and Texas A&M (1989-90) and John Brown of Palo Duro and Houston (1992-93).

The nominees (one per school) for their 2008 achievements:

Palo Duro grad Ziggy Hood, a senior defensive tackle for Missouri;

Tascosa grad Nick Jones, a redshirt freshman defensive lineman for Abilene Christian.

Amarillo High grad Dan Sherwood, a senior offensive lineman for West Texas A&M.

Caprock does not have a representative this year.