Pictured above is Jason O'Brien (#23) with members of the 1966 Football Team and Ms. Nellie Clayton, wife of Coach Jack Clayton.
One wonderful sidelight of the 40th anniversary reunion of the unbeaten 1966 Demons football team last weekend was the recognition of this year’s recipient of the Jack Clayton Memorial Scholarship.
Senior safety Jason O’Brien is an honor student in health and human performance. He is a four-year letterman and a three-year starter for the Demons, and nobody on the team bleeds purple more than J.O.
If you want to see raw emotion, watch him as he roars out of the tunnel and through the purple smoke before the last two home games, Oct. 28 against Texas State and Nov. 11 against McNeese. It’s nothing new – his motor has been running hot since the day he put on a Demons jersey.
He is the kind of player Coach Clayton would have loved. So it’s great that Mrs. Nellie Clayton (shown in the center in the above photo) was there as always for the pregame presentation of the Clayton Scholarship trophy, along with members of the 1966 team who were influential in creating the beautiful Clayton Plaza behind the south end zone at Turpin Stadium.
The plaza is more than a shrine. It’s a fund-raising mechanism. Many NSU supporters have contributed to the scholarship in return for having their names on bricks in the plaza. Several of coach Clayton’s players are among the kindest donors.
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