Former Meridian Trojan football star Spencer Blackburn is the 2017 recipient of the Larry Hattemer Offensive Lineman Scholarship. The Eastern Washington University junior center is the third player to earn the scholarship named after the longtime former EWU offensive line coach.
Blackburn is a 2014 graduate of Meridian, he earned Sophomore All-America honors in 2016 when he was chosen as a second team All-Big Sky Conference selection.
The Larry Hatter Offensive Lineman Scholarship was created in 1991. The fund has matured to the point that two-time All-American and current professional Aaron Neary was the first beneficiary of the proceeds in 2016, and has been followed by recent recipients Jerrod Jones and Blackburn. It provides a way for former Eastern offensive linemen and others associated with the Eagle Football program to give toward an endowment fund that will provide perpetual scholarship funds to EWU players.
Inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013, Hattemer is a former Eastern assistant football coach and administrator, as well as a coach and athletic director at Columbia Basin College. He hired Dick Zornes as football coach at CBC in 1977, then came with Zornes to Eastern in 1979. They coached together for 12 more seasons until Hattemer retired following the 1990 season.
The university is currently working with former players to hopefully double the endowment. More information on the Hattemer Scholarship and a link to the fund’s giving page is available at: http://goeags.com/HattemerScholarship.
(KPUG – Doug Lange via EWU Athletics press release)
