Northwest Missouri State football standout Myles Burnsides was named the 2010 Ken B. Jones Award Winner Thursday at the annual MIAA Awards Dinner in Kansas City. The award is presented annually to the league’s male and female student-athletes of the year.
Burnsides is the fourth Bearcat to earn the award in the last nine years. He joins Tucker Woolsey (2002, track and field), Clint Prange (2005, track and field) and Josh Lamberson (2006, football) as Northwest honorees.
The award, which is in its 17th year, is named in honor of the man who served as the MIAA’s first full-time commissioner for 16 years. Jones retired in 1997 and passed away in May 2004.
A 12-member panel of athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives and sports information directors selected the finalists. The candidates were judged on academic achievement, athletic success and community service.
Burnsides earned his bachelor’s degree with a 3.90 grade-point average and carries a 3.86 average while working to obtain a master’s degree in business administration. He is a three-time, first-team All-MIAA choice, a two-time All-American and in 2008 was named the National Defensive Player of the Year, the first in program history.
Burnsides finished a four-year career with 294 tackles, the most by a defensive back and eighth-most in program history. His 16 interceptions are third-most in program history. Burnsides played in 59 collegiate games, started in four national championship contests and went 37-0 against MIAA opponents.
