By Kavin Mistry
It is not often an athlete at San Jose State gets recognized at the highest level. Spartans’ wide receiver Tim Crawley received the National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete class award in New York City last week.
“I am really proud to represent San Jose State,” Crawley said. “To represent my family and to achieve such a prestigious honor.”
Crawley said it was a surreal experience and he posted pictures of himself with various famous NFL athletes such as Peyton and Archie Manning on instagram.
“The people I met there were great,” Crawley said. “You see these guys on TV and sports, but when you meet them they are very cool and down to earth.”
He is one of 12 athletes from all levels of college football to be recognized and is given a $18,000 postgraduate scholarship.
“This just means that all the hard work that I have put into my school work as well as on the football field really just paid off,” Crawley said. “I could have never foreseen this happening to me, when I got word that I was a National Scholar Athlete, it was overwhelming.”
Crawley was a fifth-year senior in football who graduated with a business management and information systems degree last May.
“I do plan on now training for the NFL or the CFL,” Crawley said. “But if that doesn’t work out I will probably go back to school and try to get my masters or just start looking for a job. It is weird how collegiate football kind of just ends and now it’s time to go out in the real world and make some big decisions. ”
It has been a long journey for Crawley, coming to the school as a walk-on to the football program, getting a scholarship and this season being the team leader in receiving yards.
Family is one of the biggest parts of Crawley’s life, he said their support helped him get through all the tough times in football and in school.
“It was rough,” Crawley said. “It was tough to pay all of your expenses and to just have that additional thing on your mind is taxing mentally. My first year was rough but I was blessed to have a family who supported me through everything that I did.”
Crawley finished the season with 55 catches for 648 yards and three touchdowns in his final year in the blue and gold.