NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Swampscott’s Dick Jauron was one of five Yale athletic alumni presented with the George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership award at a dinner Friday night on the campus of the Ivy League university in New Haven.
Jauron, a 1969 graduate of Swampscott High, was the NFL’s Coach of the Year in 2001, when led the Chicago Bears to a 13-3 record and the NFL’s Central Division championship.
The Bush award honors athletes who, in their lives after graduating from Yale, have made significant leadership contributions in their worlds of governance, commerce, science and technology, education, public service and in the arts and the media.
The award is named in recognition of George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States “as the epitome of one who has successfully and selflessly committed a lifetime to address the diverse global leadership demands of his generation,” according to a statement released by the university.
Each honoree is chosen by a broadly representative alumni Honors Committee, based upon the candidate’s individual lifetime leadership contributions in their respective fields. All have been graduated for more than 20 years and exemplify Yale’s athletic heritage a component of the undergraduate educational experience. The awards are presented at the biennial Blue Leadership Ball the night before today’s Yale-Harvard football game, an event that brings together more than 700 alumni and friends of Yale Athletics.
Jauron is considered one of the greatest athletes the North Shore has ever produced. At Yale, he rushed for 2,947 yards in three seasons with Yale. Freshmen were not eligible for varsity play at the university at the time. The record stood until 2000. Three times, Jauron was named to the all-Ivy League first team — the first Yale football athlete to be so honored.
During his junior year at Yale, Jauron received the Nils V. “Swede” Nelson Award for sportsmanship. He won the Bulger Lowe Award, which is given to the best Division 1A/1AA player in New England, when he was a senior.
When he was a senior, Jauron rushed for 183 yards in the Harvard-Yale game, in which the Eli overcame a 17-0 halftime deficit to win, 28-17.
He was drafted by the Detroit Lions of the NFL and, as a safety, became an all-pro.
In a career that lasted eight years, Jauron played five seasons with Detroit and three more with the Cincinnati Bengals.
After he retired, he coached for, among other teams, the Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars before being named head coach of the Bears. Jauron also was head coach of the Bills, and served as acting coach of the Lions.
He currently lives in Swampscott.
