Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the 1971 creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month – the honors enter their 63rd year in 2019. To be eligible, an athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region. Each of the monthly award winners are honored in the summer at the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Cameron Carroll, a star running back for the Tulane football team, was selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for September. A sophomore running back from Flowood, Miss., Carroll rushed 36 times for 251 yards (7.0 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns in three September games for the Green Wave. He had a huge game in the Wave’s 66-24 road win over Southern Miss, running for 163 yards and three touchdowns while also catching a 16-yard TD pass. He also added two rushing TDs in the season-opening win over South Alabama and the game two loss to Navy. Carroll’s eight touchdowns this season were the most in the nation among FBS players in September.

Carroll was selected for the honor over four other nominees.

• Tyler Grubbs, a true freshman linebacker from Holy Cross High School, has been a tackling machine is in his first few weeks at Louisiana Tech. The 6-1, 221-pounder recorded 16 tackles, including one tackle for loss, in a win over Southern Miss on Sept. 19 – it was the first 15-plus tackle performance at Louisiana Tech since 2018. Then on Sept. 26, Grubbs led the Bulldogs once again, piling up 12 tackles, one tackle for loss and a pass break-up in a 66-38 victory over Houston Baptist.

• Xavier University Men’s Tennis star Santiago Perez, a junior from Pereira, Colombia, won three singles matches and three doubles matches to win both titles in the ITA NAIA Gulf Regional Championships played in New Orleans. Perez and Shaikh Abdullah defeated Loyola’s Sam Marin and Joseph Short 6-2, 6-3 in the doubles final, then Perez defeated Abdullah 6-0, 6-3 in the singles final. Perez, top seeded in singles and a two-time ITA NAIA All-American, dropped a total of eight games in his three singles matches. The championships qualified Perez and Abdullah for ITA NAIA nationals in October.

• Garret Wallow, a senior linebacker who prepped at John Curtis, led TCU with nine tackles, including two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble in a 37-34 loss to Iowa State on Sept. 26. It was the only September game for the Horned Frogs and Wallow, who was a First-Team All-Big 12 selection after leading the conference with 125 tackles in 2019.

• Nia Washington, a junior outside hitter for Country Day Volleyball, had 111 kills, 16 aces, 88 digs and eight blocks in nine matches for the Cajuns. The team is 4-5 with straight-set wins over Loranger, Riverside, Lakeshore and St. Mary’s.