After giving an impassioned speech about his hometown while accepting the Heisman Trophy, LSU quarterback Joe Burrow will have his high school football stadium in Athens, Ohio, named after him.
The Athens City School District Board of Education announced Thursday that it has directed its superintendent and the Athens High School administration to change the name to Joe Burrow Stadium in recognition of his achievements.
Along with the stadium honor this week, Burrow also received his master's degree in liberal arts from LSU on Friday.
What a week for Joey Burrow pic.twitter.com/BvNgwlA58O
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) December 20, 2019
Burrow was voted Ohio Mr. Football for 2014-15 and Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year in 2013-14 and 2014-15 before starting his career at Ohio State. After serving as a backup for three years, he moved to LSU as a graduate transfer, with a degree in consumer and family financial services, and started the past two seasons for the Tigers.
His career took off this season. He has thrown for 4,715 yards with 48 touchdown passes and won the Heisman Trophy with the most first-place votes in history.
"Coming from southeast Ohio, it's a very impoverished area and the poverty rate is almost two times the national average," Burrow said in his speech after accepting the Heisman on Dec. 14. "There's so many people there that don't have a lot, and I'm up here for all those kids in Athens and Athens County that go home to not a lot of food on the table, hungry after school. You guys can be up here, too."
A fundraising campaign that began after the speech has raised more than $400,000 for the Athens County food bank, in addition to thousands of dollars donated to the Athens High School boosters and other area government and nonprofit support agencies.