Philly Native Hits $1 Million Barefoot Kick on College GameDay
Don’t worry—you didn’t miss a big game-ending kick this past month—but you may have missed a big kick.
Several Philly area college football teams almost needed a big kick at the end of the game this past week. But ESPN’s College GameDay in Oxford, Mississippi, over the weekend put Philadelphia front and center once again.
Ole’ Miss freshman and Lehigh Valley native James Whitehead was selected to try a barefoot 33-yard kick for Pat McAfee’s “Kicking is Easy” contest sponsored by The Home Depot. When Whitehead made the kick — he won $1 million.
In 2023, Philadelphia’s impact was felt across the country again when Penn freshman Ryan Georgian was awarded $100,000 as a co-winner of the Dr. Pepper Giveaway Draw.
Not many companies have a soft drink legacy like Dr. Pepper. Developed in 1885 in Waco, Texas, the soft drink was named after a Virginia physician named Dr. Charles Pepper.
For over 30 years, Dr. Pepper has been supporting college students.
To date, they have given away over $17.5 million in total tuition funding.
For the last 15 years, Dr. Pepper has hosted the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway at a Power 5 Championship Game, where students compete in a 30-second window to throw as many footballs as possible into a giant Dr. Pepper can.
Three years ago, the Dr. Pepper Tuition Giveaway took place at halftime of the Big 12 Championship Game between #7 Texas and Oklahoma State. After identifying an apparent scoring error during the contest, Dr. Pepper awarded both Gavin White of Ohio State and Ryan Georgian of Penn a $100,000.00 scholarship.
It initially appeared that Georgian had prevailed during a second tiebreaker, but it was quickly determined that scoring during the first tiebreaker was incorrect.
Dr. Pepper quickly corrected the situation, awarding both students $100,000 towards tuition as well as issuing the following statement:
“An on-field technical error resulted in an inaccurate accounting of the double tiebreaker,” the company said.
“As such, Dr Pepper will recognize both finalists as grand prize winners, with both receiving the 100k award in tuition.”
It turned out to be one of the biggest kicks connected to Philadelphia over the weekend, as both the Eagles and Villanova scored touchdowns to win in the last minute of each of their respective matchups.
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Categorized:College More PHL News