National Football Foundation

A dedicated leader, Jeff Felton spent 39 years in public education while helping turn the NFF Wyoming Chapter into one of the largest in the nation.
 
Felton earned his bachelor’s degree in geography and physical education from California State University, Long Beach in 1969 before earning his master’s in physical education from Montana State while teaching and coaching at Ukiah High School in California. After stints as an assistant coach at Cal Poly-Pomona and as head coach at St. Maries High School in Idaho, Felton served as a teacher and head football coach at Powell High School in Wyoming from 1982-89. At Powell, he earned multiple Wyoming football coach of the year honors after leading the team to the 1987 state title. Felton also coached the track team to a state title in 1984.
 
Felton left Powell to earn his education specialist degree from the University of Wyoming, where he also served as a graduate assistant coach for the football team. In 1992, he began the next phase of his education career as an administrator, serving as an assistant principal and then as principal at Larned High School in Larned, Kan.
 
Over the next 25 years in Wyoming, he served as an assistant principal at East High School, and as the principal at High School III, an alternative high school, and several elementary schools. After retiring as principal in 2009, he continued to assist the Laramie County School District by supervising student teachers.
 
A member of the NFF Wyoming Chapter since 1993, Felton has served on its board of directors for 22 years. He served as the chairman for the scholar-athlete selection committee for 15 years before becoming the chapter’s president from 2011-17. Felton was instrumental in developing the chapter’s website and gaining one of the largest memberships of any chapter in the country. The chapter annually honors 12-15 high school and two collegiate scholar-athletes at its awards banquet held on the University of Wyoming campus. Behind Felton’s leadership, the Wyoming Chapter awarded $21,600 in scholarships this past year, bringing its all-time distribution to $329,550.
 
“Whether it involved serving as a board member, chairman of the scholar-athlete selection committee, or chapter president, my work with the Wyoming chapter has been a labor of love built upon teamwork and great relationships,” said Felton. “It has allowed me to give back to a sport which embodies important values conducive to success in real-life and recognize outstanding scholar-athletes and individuals who have given unselfishly of their time and energy to promote amateur football.”
 
Felton and his wife, Jan, live in Cheyenne, Wyo., and have four children and six grandchildren. He still attends local high school and University of Wyoming sporting events.