Drake University football student-athlete Stoy Hall recently traveled to New Orleans, La., to take part in festivities surrounding the 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl as a member of the Allstate American Football Coaches' Association Good Works Team.

Hall was one of just 22 student-athletes named in September by Allstate Insurance Company and the AFCA to the 2011 Good Works Team^®, one of the most prestigious off-the field honors in college football. For 20 years the award has recognized a select group of college football players committed to making a difference in their communities.

Hall was the first Drake Bulldog to be named to the Good Works team since the program was introduced in 1992.

During his trip, Hall and his fellow members participated in a community service project and were introduced at halftime of the Jan. 3, 2012 Sugar Bowl game between Michigan and Virginia Tech.

Of the two 11-member teams, one comprised players competing in the NCAA^® Football Bowl Subdivision and the other is a combined team represented the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III, and the NAIA.

"For two decades this award has represented one of the great aspects of college football by shining a spotlight on the community involvement of its student-athletes," said Mark LaNeve, Allstate executive vice president, marketing & sales operations, who also serves on the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team^® voting panel. "Allstate is proud to partner with the AFCA to present and grow awareness around this award and continues to be inspired by the commitment and dedication of its recipients."

Hall has been the unquestioned leader of the Bulldogs football team's exemplary work in the community. He holds a coveted spot as one of Drake Football's Community Service Captains, and has spearheaded the Bulldogs Boys & Girls Clubs Community Service efforts in recent years. Outside of that Drake-related involvement with Boys and Girls Clubs, Hall on his own has worked at the Clubs for the past two summers and volunteered his time beyond the scope of the team's involvement each year.

Additionally, Hall has worked to create a mentor program at the Boys and Girls Clubs that helps kids learn to read, and has organized reading programs in several elementary schools. He also has organized groups of teammates each spring to join him on a Boys and Girls Club visit and has taken the blueprint for his Boys & Girls Clubs reading program to Des Moines metro high schools, working with students and helping them toward graduation by raising their levels to standard high school levels.

On top of that dedicated involvement, Hall is a leader among players in organizing the events of the Drake football team's annual Youth Day and has volunteered countless hours during summers to work with kids at the Bulldogs' annual football camps and clinics.

On Drake's May 2011 trip to Tanzania to perform service projects, climb Kilimanjaro and play the first American football game on African soil, Hall was heavily involved in assisting Dr. Steve Meyer of Siouxland Tanzania Educational and Medical Ministries (STEMM) with the opening of STEMM's orphanage, the STEMM Children's Village.

"Stoy is a Community Service Captain on our football team because he genuinely cares about other people and truly wants to give back and make a difference," said Creighton. "Weekly visits throughout the year to the local Boys and Girls Club was not a part of our overall community service plan as a program but basically Stoy insisted and literally took over both the organization and implementation of these regular visits. Stoy also was one of our players who immediately saw the vision for what our trip to Africa could be. He worked extremely hard to raise money so that our team could make the trip."

Hall was projected as a starting linebacker and long-snapper before an offseason injury, but continued to be part of the team's daily and weekly preparation and served in a leadership role that was significant to the team during its 2011 Pioneer Football League co-championship season. He was healthy enough to take the field for one play in Drake's 37-14 title-clinching win over Dayton on the final day of the season, Nov. 12.