George Hawthorne and Tom Minnick, two Chaparrals who starred during the Bob MacDougall era at COD, have been named to the NJCAA Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Hawthorne (1985-86) earned first-team All-American honors as an offensive lineman for the Chaps in 1986, and then played two seasons at Big 10-member Iowa (1988-89) after red-shirting in 1987. The Chicago native started in 10 of 11 games his senior year for the Hawkeyes before he joined the Cleveland Browns' preseason teams in 1990-91. Hawthorne also spent one season (1995) in the Arena Football League, playing for the Arizona Rattlers under former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Danny White.

After completing his athletic career, Hawthorne was a 25-year member of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department before his retirement, Hawthorne was the first sworn African-American deputy to make captain in the department's history. He has continued his love of football through coaching at the high school and community college levels. 

Minnick played quarterback in his two seasons for the Chaps (1986-87), and later became an assistant under MacDougall, at COD and at Joliet Junior College. At COD, the Chaps played in a bowl game every year and were unbeaten an NJCAA-record 36 games (1993-95). 

At Joliet, the Wolves became the first non-scholarship program in the NJCAA to win a national championship in 2002.

Minnick served as head coach at JJC for two seasons, and then coached 11 record-setting seasons at Arizona Western, where he led the team to multiple NJCAA Football Championship games (2011, 2016, 2017) and became the only coach in program history to lead the program to nine consecutive bowl appearances.

Minnick recently completed his third season as head coach at Garden City (Kan.) Community College. He ranks third among all active coaches in terms of winning percentage in the NJCAA.

COD and the NJCAA Coaches Association Hall of Fame
Players
John McGowan (1996)
Paul Spicer (2007)
Mike Bellamy (2007)
Aaron Bailey (2007)
Bob McMillen (2013)
George Hawthorne (2021)
Coaches
Bob MacDougall (1997)
Joe Roman (2015)
Tom Minnick (2021)
Contributor
Mike McKinnon (2007)