KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Kyle Zimmerman has been named the MIAA’s Ken B. Jones Award winner for 2016-17. The award is given to the conference’s top male and female student athletes, with criteria including athletic, academic and community service accomplishments. The award is named in honor of the man who served as the MIAA’s first full-time commissioner for 16 years. Jones retired in 1997 and passed away in May 2004. He was inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame with the inaugural Class of 2010.

Zimmerman was the MIAA Offensive Player of the Year and earned second team All-American honors from several publications. He led the Bearcats to a perfect 15-0 record and their second straight NCAA Division II National Championship. He was named the Division II Academic All-American of the Year and is an MIAA Scholar Athlete. He was named the Kansas City Sports Commission Sportsman of the Year and finished second in the Harlon Hill voting. An active member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), he helped lead devotionals at Northwest for the past five seasons.

This marks the sixth time a Northwest football player has won the Ken B. Jones Award. Zimmerman joins Tucker Woolsey (2001-02), Josh Lamberson (2005-06), Myles Burnsides (2009-10), Jake Soy (2010-11) and Trevor Adams (2013-14).

The ceremony also included the introduction of the MIAA Hall of Fame Class. Former Northwest defensive lineman Aaron Becker and long time Bearcat men’s basketball coach Steve Tappmeyer were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

— Northwest Athletics —