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Bussey earns Gatorade award

CHICAGO — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Malcolm Bussey of St. Paul’s School as its 2019-20 Gatorade New Hampshire Football Player of the Year. Bussey is the first Gatorade New Hampshire Football Player of the Year to be chosen from St. Paul’s School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Bussey as New Hampshire’s best high school football player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced in December, Bussey joins an elite group of past state football award-winners, including Emmitt Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fla.), Matthew Stafford (2005-06 Highland Park High School, Texas) and Christian McCaffrey (2012-13, 2013-14, Valor Christian High School, Colo.).

Bussey, a 5-foot-11, 196-pound junior running back, led the Pelicans to a 9-0 record, capped by a win in the New England Prep School Athletic Council Dave Coratti Bowl. Bussey rushed for 1,436 yards and 22 touchdowns on 123 carries, averaging 11.7 yards per rush. A two-time All-New England selection, Bussey averaged more than 10 yards per carry in eight of nine games and scored multiple touchdowns seven times.

A varsity hockey player for St. Paul’s, Bussey has volunteered locally with a Learn to Skate program and on behalf of Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, a program to raise awareness about violence against women. “Malcolm is the best running back we have played against in nine years of me being here,” said Joe Linta, head coach of Hamden (Conn.) Hall. “He is a high school version of (2019 NFL MVP candidate) Christian McCaffrey.”

Bussey has maintained a B average in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school next fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Bussey joins recent Gatorade New Hampshire Football Players of the Year Ryan Toscano (2018-19, Bedford High School), Andrew Duval (2017-18, Goffstown High School), Garrett Macomber (2016-17, Plymouth Regional High School), Connor Bourque (2015-16, Goffstown High School) and Eric Fairweather (2014-15, Londonderry High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Bussey has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

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