Best of CASE District II Award
 

Institution: Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Title of entry: Ali Marpet '15 Super Bowl Champion: Defying the Odds

About this entry: Super Bowl champion Ali Marpet ’15 defied the odds. The eight-page feature story in the spring 2021 issue of the Pulteney Street Survey tracks Marpet’s ascendancy from tiny Hastings High School (~500 students) to Division III Hobart College (~1,900) to the NFL. A talented two-sport athlete for the Hastings Yellow Jackets, Marpet gave up basketball to focus on football for the Hobart Statesmen, a program that in more than 100 years had only been to the NCAA playoffs a handful of times. Marpet’s growth — as a standout student-athlete at a small liberal arts school to the 61st overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft (the highest any Division III player has ever been picked) — has been a rallying point for Hobart and William Smith over the past seven years; the feature story expands on Marpet’s athletic trajectory and the importance of his family and HWS on his journey to and through the NFL, including a victory in Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.