Trailblazer Awards

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Established in 2022, the Hula Bowl Trail Blazer Award was created to honor and recognize overlooked and undervalued individuals who’ve made great contributions to the game of football for many years and have reaffirmed through their perseverance and dedication to the sport. Chip Smith will join previous trailblazer winners such as Connie Carberg an Alejandro Villanueva to win the prestigious award. We are excited to give the Godfather of Sports Performance Training the Trailblazer Award in 2024!Chip Smith, founder of Chip Smith Performance Systems (CSPS) has trained more professional athletes than any other coach or training facility in the world! &nbsp;He and his staff have trained over 3,700 NFL players to date, countless MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, and Olympic athletes dating back over 30 years. &nbsp;Fanfield.io Smith has provided NFL Combine preparation for hundreds of players selected in the NFL Draft, training more than 60 Pro Bowlers, 40 first-round draft picks, and four Heisman Trophy winners.Chip Smith has been called the “Godfather” of the sports performance training industry and continues to train athletes daily in the Atlanta facility. &nbsp;CSPS trains and manages programs for all professional athletes. &nbsp;CSPS offers a wide variety of services for professional athletes. His specialized training programs, conducted during both the offseason and preseason, ready athletes for the demanding challenges of professional sports. Although sports performance is common among many top athletes in 2024, it was an entirely novel concepts over 30 years ago. Chip Smith pioneered combine training for football players, being the first to introduce this approach. Chip Smith was the first person to ever offer Combine Training to football players.He created a custom-tailored program designed specifically for the athlete to meet their needs and goals. Utilizing speed/agility and conditioning, strength training, weight loss/weight gain, comprehensive nutrition, or rehabbing an injury, Chip Smith has become an esteemed figure in the sports performance training industryChip was one of Liberty University’s first ever student athletes and was a star football and baseball player for the University. Smith, Raised in Chesapeake, Va. as the son of a Baptist pastor, was a pioneer for both programs after Liberty’s founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, personally recruited him away from the University of North Carolina by offering him the school’s first full athletic scholarship.Smith scored the first touchdown in Liberty history that fall and delivered the first hit for the baseball team when it debuted the following spring.Chip has always been a leader on and off the field and is a strong man of faith. We are very honored to give Chip Smith the 2024 Caribe Royale Orlando Hula Bowl Trailblazer Award for his dedication to training athletes and continuing to spread the gospel through his hard work and dedication.

2024 Caribe Royale Orlando Hula Bowl Trailblazer Award Recipient: Chip Smith

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The Hula Bowl is honored to have Connie and her family present for the 76th Annual Hula Bowl. Connie is a pioneer in the NFL, and should be talked about more in the scouting community. She has been a huge asset to women in sports, and should be honored for her hard work. She was a key piece to finding one of the Jets most iconic football players ever in Mark Gastineau. Connie has a keen eye for talent, and it is awesome to have her in Orlando to present her with an award in front of her family!Connie Carberg the first female scout in the NFL will be presented with a Hula Bowl Trail Blazer Award at the 2022 Hula Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Connie Carberg is well-known in the NFL scouting community because she is a pioneer in the industry. Carberg served in a scouting role for the New York Jets from 1976-1980, breaking a gender barrier in the NFL by opening the door for females in the NFL.Carberg, a Florida resident, will be presented with the Trail Blazer Award at the 76th Annual Hula Bowl at UCF’s Bounce House on January 15, 2021. Hula Bowl’s Director of Scouting Damond Talbot is excited to honor Carberg during the coin flip!In 1976, Jets General Manager Al Ward hired Connie as a full-time scout, becoming the first female scout in the NFL. Many in the Jets Front Office called her “The Girl Scout”, and she did not let them down when it comes to finding talent.Carberg helped the Jets evaluate Mark Gastineau before the 1979 NFL Draft. The team was coaching in the Senior Bowl and needed another defensive lineman on the roster due to an vacancy, so Carberg called several prospects before suggesting Gastineau to be the replacement based on a phone conversation with him. He was projected to be an eighth round draft pick at the time, but due to his performance in the Senior Bowl and other pre-draft processes, the Jets selected him in the second round and he became the NFL’s all-time sack leader. She was also credited with helping the Jets in their selection of two-time Pro Bowl selection Wesley Walker, who was blind in one eye, in the second round of the 1977 NFL Draft.

2022 Trail Blazer Award Winner - Connie Carberg

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This year, the Hula Bowl is proud to announce Alejandro Villanueva will be the 2023 Hula Bowl Trailblazer Award Winner. Villanueva has been selected for his amazing sacrifice and service as a decorated member of our Armed Forces, as well as a terrific football player.Alejandro Villanueva is well known around the NFL, because he dominated for the Pittsburgh Steelers for several years becoming one of the top offensive linemen in the NFL. Villanueva is a true trailblazer because his path to the NFL was not like many others. After graduating from the Army football team in 2010, Villanueva would receive a workout with the Cincinnati Bengals as a tight end. Villanueva would not make it with the Bengals but would eventually get another shot from the Bears on a tryout basis. He failed to get signed by the Bears as well. Villanueva then had to make a life decision. He decided to continue with his military career to serve our country. Villanueva would serve in the Army Rangers, earning a Bronze Star, while serving three tours of duty in Afghanistan.Villanueva’s NFL dreams were not over. In 2014 he returned to the states and paid $245.00 dollars to attend a Regional Combine in Flowery Branch, Georgia. This that would turn out to be the best $245 dollars ever spent. During this time, the NFL held 10 regional combines nationwide and had over 3,000 prospects attend. In April 2014, Big Al was one of 240 prospects invited to the NFL super regional combine in Detroit, where he met with representatives from the Philadelphia Eagles.On May 5, 2014 he would sign a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles to play defensive end. Villanueva was content, that if he did not make the roster, he would serve another tour overseas.Villanueva would gain 40 pounds in mini camp, however a few months later in August he was released by the team.It wouldn’t be long after this outing, that Villanueva’s journey would truly begin in the NFL. Mike Tomlin loved Villanueva’s size and athleticism and signed him to the Steelers practice squad a few days later in August of 2014.

2023 Trail Blazer Award Winner - Alejandro Villanueva

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