BURNSVILLE, Minn. – Augustana University senior running back CJ Ham was voted by the NSIC football coaches as the 2015 NSIC Glen Galligan Award recipient. The award is given to a student-athlete who participates at his institution for four years and is academically superior while making a positive contribution to the institution.
 
The Galligan Award was initiated in 1948 to honor an outstanding senior football player in the NSIC. Glen Galligan was the athletics director at Winona State University from 1929-47 and head football coach from 1927-23 and 1935.
 
Ham is a two-sport athlete at Augustana as he is a four-year letterwinner in football and track and field. An All-NSIC Second Team selection at running back in 2015, Ham is also a two-time All-NSIC honoree in the shot put. He currently holds the school record in the indoor weight throw and the outdoor hammer throw. He has helped Augustana football to its first playoff appearance since 2010 this season finishing the regular season with 1,043 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. He enters the postseason one rushing touchdown and 71 yards shy of single season records at Augustana after becoming just the fourth back in program history to rush for 1,000-plus yards in a season last weekend. In his career, Ham has rushed for 2,608 yards and 28 touchdowns.
 
Ham has been an incredible leader and mentor during his career at Augustana and will continue on that path in the future. He is a physical education and health major at Augustana and plans on teaching and coaching football and track and field. Since his freshman season, Ham has volunteered as a peer educator and mentor in the Sioux Falls School District and has volunteered weekly at the Boys and Girls Club.
 
"I am so pleased that CJ was voted the recipient of this great honor," head football coach Jerry Olszewski said. "CJ represents all that this award is about in achievement, character and leadership. He is one of the very finest young men and competitors that I have ever coached. As his coach, I have been blessed to watch him grow into the player and man that he is today."
 
A leader and member of Augustana's Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Ham has also spent time as a student engagement volunteer at Embrace Church. He has also volunteered as a speaker in advocacy groups for children with disabilities. Ham has overcome a speech disorder that has affected him his entire life and he has used that as a platform to show kids if they believe in themselves they can be successful in life. Ham has also served on numerous projects with Habitat for Humanity with the Augustana football program during his career.
 
Ham is the second Viking to be named the recipient of the Glen Galligan Award since Augustana joined the NSIC in 2008. Dan Schoen was named the recipient of the Glen Galligan Award in 2010.
 
Located in Sioux Falls, S.D., Augustana University is a member of NCAA Division II and competes in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.