DALLAS (FWAA) – Cal linebacker Ron Rivera has been named the recipient of the 2025 Bronko Nagurski Legends Award and will be honored at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet on Dec.8 at the Charlotte Convention Center.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which is awarded to the top defensive player in college football each year, is announced by the Charlotte Touchdown Club and the Football Writers Association of America at the same event as the Legends Award.
"I am honored and humbled to be chosen as the recipient of the Bronko Nagurski Legends Award from the Football Writers Association of America's 1983 First-Team All-America Defense," Rivera said. "Playing for the University of California Berkeley was a privilege, which led to many other tremendous opportunities. I appreciate the Football Writers and the Charlotte Touchdown Club for hostiung the Bronko Nagurski here in Charlotte. Both Stepanie (his wife) and I look forward to attending."
The Bronko Nagurski Legends Award recipient each year is a player chosen from a past FWAA All-America team.The FWAA and the CTC have presented the Nagurski Legends Award since the 2007 season. Previous recipients include such standouts as Notre Dame's Alan Page, Michigan State's Bubba Smith, Miami's Ted Hendricks, Florida's Jack Youngblood, Maryland's Randy White, Ohio State's Tom Cousineau, UCLA's Jerry Robinson and Texas' Johnnie Johnson.
"Ron Rivera," said Steve Richardson, FWAA Executive Director, "was a consenus All-America his senior season in 1983 when he made the FWAA All-America Team on the defensive side of the ball and was the Pac-12 Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He also won the Pop Warner Award as the top senior on the West Coast that year. What a final season of a great college career. He was the team MVP."
Rivera, a 6-3, 235-pound linebacker, was inducted into the California Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994, two years after he completed his nine-year NFL playing career with the Chicago Bears in 1992. Picked in the second round of the 1984 NFL Draft by the Bears (44th overall), Rivera played in 137 Bears' games with 62 starts, 392 tackles, five forced fumbles, six fumble recoveries and nine interceptions.He was the first player of Puerto Rican descent in 1985 to play on a Super Bowl winning team when the Bears defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
The other part of Rivera's career in the NFL has been that of head coach and assistant.
"Ron Rivera was immensely popular when he was the head coach of the Charlotte Panthers from 2011-2019," Richardson said. "The Panthers made the NFL Playoffs four times during his tenure, with the high point in 2015 when they finished 15-1 during the regular season before losing to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl. So this is a homecoming of sorts for Ron and his wife Stephanie, who was a member of the Cal's women's basketball team."
Rivera also was head coach four seasons in Washington from 2020-23 and his team made the playoffs his first season before losing to Tampa Bay in the Wildcard game. He was named NFL Coach of the Year twice -- in 2013 and 2015.
The Charlotte Touchdown Club is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1990 for the purpose of promoting high school, collegiate, and professional football in the Charlotte, North Carolina region. Since its inception, the club has grown as well as diversified boasting a sponsor team of more than (80) companies. The Club's activities and services focus community attention on the outstanding Citizenship, Scholarship, Sportsmanship, and Leadership of area athletes and coaches. Through individual and corporate support, more than $3,000,000 has been raised and donated to benefit the Touchdown Club's scholarship efforts.
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Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,300 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football’s most prestigious awards and its 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients dating back to 1935. For more information about the NCFAA and its award programs, visit the redesigned NCFAA.org or follow on X at @NCFAA.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is presented annually by the Charlotte Touchdown Club and the Football Writers Association of America to the nation's most outstanding NCAA defensive football player at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet in Charlotte, N.C. All proceeds benefit the Charlotte Touchdown Club Scholarship Fund. For more information call 704-347-2918 or touchdownclub.com.