IRVING, Texas (Oct. 14, 2026) – The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that Victor J. Glover Jr. and Steven J. Hatchell have been named 2026 NFF Gold Medal recipients. Glover, the trailblazing pilot of the Artemis II mission, and Hatchell, the visionary leader of the NFF, will be honored during the 68th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 8 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

"The lessons learned through football can shape a person's life long after their playing days are over," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. "Victor Glover carried those lessons from the football field to the far reaches of space, while Steve Hatchell has spent more than five decades strengthening the game and creating opportunities for future generations. Both exemplify the character, integrity and commitment to serving others that are at the heart of the NFF's mission and the Gold Medal."

The highest and most prestigious award presented by the National Football Foundation, the Gold Medal recognizes an outstanding American who has demonstrated integrity and honesty, achieved significant career success and reflected the basic values of those who have excelled in amateur sport, particularly football.
 
Originally presented to President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the inaugural NFF Annual Awards Dinner in 1958, the Gold Medal boasts an impressive list of past recipients, including seven U.S. presidents, four generals, three admirals, one Supreme Court justice, 29 corporate CEOs and chairmen, actor John Wayne and baseball immortal Jackie Robinson. Glover and Hatchell will become the 69th and 70th recipients of the NFF Gold Medal. Click here for a full list of recipients.
 
Glover and Hatchell will be honored alongside the recipients of the other 2026 NFF Major Awards. The evening will also feature the induction of the 2026 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class, the presentation of the 2026 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards Presented by Fidelity Investments and the announcement of the recipient of the 37th William V. Campbell Trophy®, college football's premier scholar-athlete award. The 2026 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, which will also serve as the pool of finalists for the Campbell Trophy®, will be announced Oct. 21. Please click here to purchase tickets.
 
   
Victor J. Glover Jr., a pioneering astronaut, decorated naval aviator and former Cal Poly football player, has built a remarkable career grounded in the teamwork, discipline and perseverance instilled in him as a Mustang student-athlete.
 
In April 2026, Glover helped lead humanity back to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century, serving as pilot of NASA's historic Artemis II mission aboard the Orion spacecraft Integrity. Launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the nearly 10-day mission carried the crew around the Moon and 252,756 miles from Earth at its farthest point before splashing down safely off the coast of San Diego. In making the journey, Glover became the first Black person to travel to the vicinity of the Moon while helping the team set a new record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from Earth.
 
The historic journey marked another milestone in Glover's extraordinary career, which began as a multi-sport athlete at Ontario High School in Southern California. A standout in football, wrestling and track and field, Glover earned the school's Athlete of the Year Award as a senior in 1994.
 
His athletic and academic accomplishments led him to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where he balanced the demands of earning an engineering degree with competing as a Division I student-athlete in both the Mustangs' football and wrestling programs.
 
As a defensive back, he wore No. 23 for Cal Poly under head football coach Andre Patterson, who went on to spend more than two decades coaching in the NFL. In an interview with The New York Times, Patterson remembered Glover for his meticulous approach and determination to master technique, and Glover has repeatedly credited his experiences as a college athlete with helping prepare him for the extraordinary challenges that followed.
 
His experiences wrestling under longtime Cal Poly coach Lennis Cowell proved particularly formative. While aboard the International Space Station, Glover famously compared two of the most physically and mentally demanding experiences of his life, saying the hardest thing he had ever chosen to do was walk in space and the second hardest was wrestling practice under Cowell.
 
After graduating from Cal Poly in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in general engineering, Glover embarked on an extraordinary career in the United States Navy. He earned his wings as a naval aviator in 2001 and flew the F/A-18C Hornet, deploying aboard the USS John F. Kennedy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He later graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and conducted flight tests of advanced military aircraft and weapon systems. Over his naval career, Glover accumulated more than 4,000 flight hours in more than 40 aircraft, completed more than 400 carrier-arrested landings and flew 24 combat missions.
 
His pursuit of education continued throughout his military career. In addition to his Cal Poly engineering degree, Glover earned master's degrees in flight test engineering, systems engineering and military operational art and science. In 2012, he was selected as a Legislative Fellow and served in the United States Senate before NASA selected him the following year as one of eight members of its 21st astronaut class.
 
After completing astronaut candidate training, Glover was selected to pilot SpaceX's Crew-1 Dragon spacecraft, Resilience, on the first operational Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station. During the 2020–21 mission, he made history as the first Black astronaut to serve on a long-duration mission aboard the station, spending 168 days in space as a flight engineer for Expeditions 64 and 65. He completed four spacewalks while participating in scientific research, maintenance and outreach activities aboard the station.
 
NASA selected Glover in 2023 to pilot Artemis II, placing the former college football player at the controls of one of the most consequential missions in modern space exploration. Combined with his Crew-1 and Artemis II missions, Glover has accumulated 178 days in space.
 
His accomplishments have earned some of the nation's highest military and civilian honors, including the Defense Superior Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal and NASA Space Exploration Medal. In 2026, he received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. He has also received distinguished alumni recognition from the Naval Postgraduate School and honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Howard University and Cal Poly.
 
In September 2026, following his retirement from the Navy and transition to NASA emeritus status, Glover returned full time to Cal Poly in a senior leadership role, advising the university on strategic initiatives, partnerships and programs while helping inspire the next generation of students.

   
Steven J. Hatchell has spent more than five decades as one of the most influential administrators in college football, including more than two decades leading the transformation of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame into a stronger, more nationally prominent organization.
 
Hatchell became NFF president & CEO on Jan. 1, 2005, bringing more than 35 years of leadership experience in collegiate athletics and sports administration. Since then, he has expanded the Foundation's national reach and strengthened its ability to recognize academic achievement, provide scholarships and develop future leaders through football, touching virtually every facet of its operations.
 
Early in his tenure, Hatchell spearheaded the relocation of the NFF's national headquarters from the New York-New Jersey area, its home for 60 years, to Irving, Texas. He also reshaped the NFF Board of Directors, expanding its geographic reach and bringing together CEOs, conference commissioners, athletics directors, professional sports executives, NFF College Football Hall of Famers and national civic leaders. His early efforts also included recruiting Archie Manning to succeed Ron Johnson as NFF Chairman, establishing an 18-year partnership that continues to this day.
 
One of Hatchell's most significant accomplishments was helping secure a permanent home for the NFF College Football Hall of Fame, partnering with Chick-fil-A and the Peach Bowl to relocate it in 2014 to a state-of-the-art, $68.5 million, 94,246-square-foot facility in downtown Atlanta. Since taking the NFF's helm in 2005, Hatchell has overseen the induction of 31% of all Hall of Fame members since the first class in 1951.
 
Hatchell has strengthened the NFF's founding mission of promoting academic excellence and developing leaders through football. In 2007, the NFF established the Hampshire Honor Society to recognize college football players excelling in the classroom. From 345 inaugural members, the program grew to a record 2,633 honorees in 2026, recognizing 23,605 student-athletes from 692 institutions since its inception. Under Hatchell, the NFF also established 10 new national scholar-athlete endowments between 2005 and 2024. Since 1959, the National Scholar-Athlete program has distributed $13.5 million in postgraduate scholarships, with 34% of all honorees selected during Hatchell's tenure.
 
Under Hatchell, the NFF significantly elevated the profile of its premier scholar-athlete honor, renaming it the William V. Campbell Trophy® in 2009 to honor the legendary business leader, former Columbia player and coach, and 2004 NFF Gold Medal recipient. Hatchell also helped establish a permanent home for the trophy at the New York Athletic Club and secured national recognition for its recipient at the College Football Playoff National Championship.
 
In 2011, under Hatchell's leadership, the NFF launched Faculty Salutes to recognize the vital role of faculty athletics representatives, with Fidelity Investments donating more than $1 million to support student-athlete academic services at recipients' schools. The NFF also created the Team of Distinction to honor outstanding high school scholar-athletes and established the National High School Academic Excellence Awards Presented by the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation. The program's top honor was later named the Hatchell Cup Presented by Bob's Steak and Chop House in recognition of his leadership.
 
Under Hatchell, the NFF has expanded efforts to highlight football's benefits to players, families and communities. Future For Football, launched in 2018, shares stories of the game's positive impact. The "I Played" campaign features former players explaining how football shaped their lives, while the "Good in the Game" podcast and newsletter bring those stories and perspectives to a broader audience.
 
Hatchell has strengthened the NFF's relationships throughout football, cultivating partnerships with the NCAA, collegiate conferences, American Football Coaches Association, National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, Football Writers Association of America, Bowl Season and other key organizations.
 
Hatchell brought an extraordinary résumé to the NFF. A 1970 journalism graduate of the University of Colorado, he began his career in sports information at Colorado and Colorado State before becoming an associate commissioner of the Big Eight Conference.
 
At 33, he became commissioner of the Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference and later executive director of the Orange Bowl, where he secured FedEx as the title sponsor and oversaw four national championship games during his six-year tenure. While at the Orange Bowl, he chaired the Football Bowl Association, now known as Bowl Season, for five years.
 
He served as the final commissioner of the Southwest Conference before becoming the first commissioner of the Big 12, which he helped establish in the mid-1990s. Hatchell helped negotiate the Big 12's television contracts and bowl arrangements.
 
Before joining the NFF, he spent six years as commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He also served on multiple U.S. Olympic Committee boards and the staffs of three Olympic Games, led organizing committees for two Super Bowls and directed 10 NCAA basketball tournaments. Hatchell has served on the boards of Catholic Campus Ministries and Texas Special Olympics.
 
Hatchell's contributions have earned widespread recognition, including the Pop Warner Little Scholars' Warner Award (2014), the Football Writers Association of America's Bert McGrane Award (2015), NACDA's Golden Anniversary Award (2015), Dallas Father of the Year honors (2022) and the Maxwell Football Club's Francis "Reds" Bagnell Award for contributions to football (2024). He has also been inducted into the University of Colorado Athletics Hall of Fame (2017), the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame (2018) and the Bowl Season Leadership Hall of Fame (2023).
 
ABOUT THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION & COLLEGE HALL OF FAME
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik, and journalist Grantland Rice, the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) is a nonprofit organization that leverages the power of amateur football to build leaders. With 120 chapters in 47 states, the NFF oversees initiatives such as the NFF College Hall of Fame, the NFF William V. Campbell Trophy®, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards Presented by Fidelity Investments®, Future For Football, and I Played. Learn more at footballfoundation.org and follow @NFFNetwork on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.