National Football Foundation

Northeast Region
 
While playing high school football in the late 1970s, John Barbarotta developed a love of the game that remains with him to this day as he has become one of the key advocates for amateur football in Connecticut over the past several decades.
 
"The National Football Foundation has given me the opportunity to participate and combine two of my life's passions: football and helping kids," said Barbarotta. "I truly believe every cliché you hear about football and how it builds character and teaches life lessons, including self-discipline, overcoming challenges, building camaraderie and teamwork through perseverance. I see it in every student-athlete who has come through our banquet doors each year. Every year, I am more impressed by our scholar-athletes and their accomplishments."
 
In 1995, Barbarotta became a member of the National Football Foundation, and he has served as the president of the NFF DeSantis-McDougall/Fairfield County (CT) Chapter since 2007. With Barbarotta at the helm, the NFF outpost, which was established in 1962, has maintained a strong presence. Each year, the chapter stages a scholar-athlete dinner, honoring the top 38 local high school student-athletes and distributing $4,000 in scholarships. At the event, the chapter also presents several major awards, including the Coach of the Year; Contributions to Amateur Football; Distinguished Service; Lifetime Achievement; and to the top Official in the region.
 
"The NFF's motto of Building Leaders Through Football is alive, and it is confirmed by every student-athlete who receives a scholar-athlete plaque or scholarship at our annual banquet," said Barbarotta. "I love and enjoy football on every level, especially high school and college.  Football has given me the chance to meet great people and to travel to many venues throughout our great country."
 
To raise its scholarship money, the chapter annually hosts a golf tournament, and it partners with the New Haven Chapter, sponsoring the Hall of Fame Summer Football Classic, a high school all-star football game held in July. The chapter's other activities include support of several high school clinics in the region.
 
Since the inception of the NFF Team of Distinction in 2018, which honors the top high school scholar-athlete from each chapter in the country, the outpost has placed a local honoree on the list every year, and prior to the award, the chapter saw multiple student-athletes honored as NFF National High School Scholar-Athletes, including Zach Allen from New Canaan High School in 2015, who went on to play at Boston College and now starts for the Arizona Cardinals, and Scooter Harrington from Greenwich High School in 2016, who went on to play at Stanford.
 
After graduating in 1981 from North Adams State College (now known as the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) with a degree in sociology, Barbarotta quicky found an outlet to feed his football passion, joining the Walter Camp Football Foundation, which selects the oldest All-America team in the country. He has remained a key member of the prestigious organization, serving as its president from 2007 to 2009, and he is currently on the Board of Governors as a vice president and recently became the president-elect, which will make him the first two-time president in the 55-year history of the organization.  
 
An executive in the construction management business for more than 25 years, Barbarotta currently works as a project manager at Resource Recovery Systems (REA) in New Haven, Connecticut. He also serves as president of the Bianchi/Barbarotta Family Foundation, which benefits the youth of Berkshire County near his childhood home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
 
An avid golfer who plays famous courses whenever the opportunity arises, Barbarotta lives in Trumbull, Connecticut, with his wife, Audrey. He has a son Jayson, daughter-in-law Kristen and granddaughter Reese.