Press Release
In its 32nd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, today announced Alex Huston of Glendale High School as its 2016-17 Gatorade Missouri Football Player of the Year. Huston is the first Gatorade Missouri Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Glendale High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Huston as Missouri’s best high school football player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced in December.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior quarterback passed for a state-record 6,131 yards and 76 touchdowns this past season, leading the Falcons to an 11-1 record and the Class 5 quarterfinals. Huston completed 395 of 563 passes and was intercepted just 12 times. The Southwest Missouri co-Offensive Player of the Year, he threw for 706 yards and nine touchdowns in a third-round playoff victory over Ozark.
Huston has maintained a 3.0 GPA in the classroom. He has volunteered locally on behalf of youth sports programs.
“I’ve never seen a more electric passing game than Glendale’s and it all starts with Alex Huston,” said Will Christian, head coach at Lebanon High. “He is on the money all the time and his accuracy is what makes them go.” Huston will begin his senior year of high school next fall.
Huston joins recent Gatorade Missouri Football Players of the Year Skylar Thompson (2015-16, Fort Osage High School), T.J. Green (2014-15, Rockhurst High School), Dalvin Warmack (2013-14 & 2012-13, Blue Springs High School), Dorial Green-Beckham (2011–12 & 2010-11, Hillcrest High School), and Darrian Miller (2009-10, Blue Springs High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Huston will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program. Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. 12 spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.
