The Gatorade Alaska Football Player of the Year for 2019 has been awarded to Lathrop High School’s Jace Henry for his excellence on and off the field for the 2019 football season.
Jace Henry, senior at Lathrop High, lead the Malemutes to the 2019 Division II state championship game (won by Soldotna high 69-23). The 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback and linebacker rushed for 1,573 yards and 23 touchdowns, passed for 1,296 yards and 14 touchdowns and punted for a 36.8-yard average.
Henry was earlier named the Alaska Coaches Association State Player of the Year and the Division II Player of the Year. Henry has maintained a 3.95 GPA in the classroom. Henry has volunteered locally as part of community beautification projects and with the Special Olympics.
Gatorade Player of the Year Program
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.
Alaska Selections
Henry joins recent Gatorade Alaska Football Players of the Year Colton Herman (2018-19, East Anchorage High
School), Derryk Snell (2017-18, Chugiak High School), Brenner Furlong (2016-17, Soldotna High School), Ethan
Falaniko (2015-16, Bartlett High School) and Anthony Griffith (2014-15, Ben Eielson High School), among the state’s
list of former award winners.
Play It Forward
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Henry 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.
Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of
professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming
coaches, business owners and educators.
