- - -


         OHIO STATE'S BENTLEY WINS RIMINGTON TROPHY


	Dateline:  December 12, 2001 ... Garden City Park, NY
	Contact Name: Dave Rimington, The Boomer Esiason Foundation
	Contact Phone: 516-746-0077 
	Contact Fax: 516-746-4437
	Web Address: http://www.RimingtonTrophy.com


GARDEN CITY PARK, NY - December 12, 2001 - Ohio State's LeCharles 
Bentley is the winner of the Dave Rimington Trophy as "College 
Football's Center of the Year."  

The 6'2", 300-pound senior, who was named "Big Ten Offensive Lineman 
of the Year", is expected to be an early pick in the 2002 NFL draft, 
and has played in 47 consecutive Buckeye games - the last 30 as a 
starter.

The award's first runner-up is Seth McKinney of Texas A&M. He was 
followed by Kyle Young of Clemson (third), who also was a finalist in 
2000.

The Rimington Trophy recipient is determined by a consensus of the six 
All-America teams that have College Football Hall of Fame 
accreditation: The Walter Camp Football Foundation, America Football 
Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America, 
Associated Press, "The Football News" and "The Sporting News".

Bentley, who was born and reared in Cleveland, Ohio was the first-team 
center selected on five of those All-America teams.  His last college 
game will be on January 1, 2002, when Ohio State meets South Carolina 
in the Outback Bowl.

Rimington, the award's namesake, was a consensus first team All-
America center at Nebraska in 1981 and 1982; years in which he became 
the John Outland Trophy's only double winner as the nation's premiere 
college interior lineman. He was inducted into the College Football 
Hall of Fame in 1997.

The two-year old trophy (Nebraska's Dominic Raiola was its first 
recipient) is presented by sponsor Canon, USA, Inc. and hosted by the 
Boomer Esiason Foundation. Esiason, a former NFL quarterback, created 
his foundation in 1993 to support research and treatment of cystic 
fibrosis. His 10 year-old son has that deadly genetic disease. Esiason 
and Rimington were teammates on the Cincinnati Bengals from 1984-87.

Bentley will be honored at a presentation banquet at the Rococo 
Theatre in Lincoln, Nebraska, on December 15, 2001.  Proceeds from 
that event will benefit the Nebraska Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis 
Foundation.  

For more information, please contact The Boomer Esiason Foundation, 
200 B Armstrong Road, Garden City Park, NY 11040-5339