The Trent Van Hoosen Memorial Scholarship was established at the conclusion of the 2012 football season. The award has been named for Trent Van Hoosen who was a loving father, husband, and supporter of his family, friends, and the Fishers High School and youth football programs.
The Fishers Football Alumni Club was established in part to provide the funding to award $1,000 renewable scholarships annually to graduated players from the Fishers High School football program.
Trent Van Hoosen was a coach in the HSE-Fishers Youth Football organization for several years while his two boys, Matt and Joe, were playing in the league. When Fishers High School started its football program in 2006, Trent worked as a volunteer coach with the freshmen team for the first two seasons.
He was a very good teacher of the game and its fundamentals and provided great encouragement and support to many young players. When his oldest son Matt entered high school and began playing in the FHS program, Trent stepped away from the coaching and focused on being a dad and an encouraging supporter not only to his own sons, but to many of the other boys in the program.
Trent passed away unexpectedly on November 2, 2012, on a Friday morning before the Tigers were to play in the Sectional Championship game. Because of Trent’s impact on many of the players on the team, the players dedicated the game to Trent and his two sons, Matt, a senior LB for the Tigers at the time and Joe, a member of the freshmen squad. The Tigers captured the Sectional Championship that night largely due to the love shared by the players for Trent, Matt, and Joe.
Trent would have been so very proud of Matt that night as he showed tremendous courage, putting aside his own sorrow to support his teammates and play in the game.
Trent Van Hoosen graduated in 1985 from North Newton High School in Iowa where he was an all-state football player and 3-sport athlete. He walked on to the football program at Iowa State where he eventually earned a football scholarship and became a starter at offensive guard.
Trent was employed by Stryker Orthopedics. In addition to being a dedicated father to Matt, Joe, and his bonus daughter Sophia, he was a loving husband and best friend to wife Susan.
The Trent Van Hoosen Memorial Scholarship will be presented each year to a graduating member of the Fishers High School football program. The award will be selected each year by a committee consisting of coaches and members of the Fishers Football Alumni Club. In honor of the type of example Trent provided, the factors to be considered for the award will be leadership, scholarship, team spirit and self-sacrificing attitude, and community involvement. Financial need may also be a consideration.
This year’s Trent Van Hoosen Memorial Scholarship winner is Luke Thomas who has been an outstanding leader and player in our football program. Luke has participated in our program all four years, has been a 2-year letterman, and starter at defensive tackle. He has maintained a 3.5 GPA while working throughout high school to earn money for college and other expenses. As a senior, Luke was named to the All-Hoosier Crossroads Conference team. Luke can best be described as a totally unselfish player who always gave everything he had to make himself and the team better. He plans to attend the University of Cincinnati and study civil engineering.
We will present Luke's Scholarship along with the three annual renewable scholarships to our past three scholarship recipients.
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
2013 Matt Van Hoosen (Ball State University)
2014 Nick Edwards (Indiana State University)
2015 Luka Skudrzik (Purdue University)
2016 Colton Thomas (Ball State University)
2017 Jeff Inman (Wabash College)
2018 Luke Thomas (University of Cincinnati)
2022 Curtis Kearschner (Wabash College)
2023 Aidan Zimmer (Taylor University)
FHS Football is grateful for such a strong community who believes in Fishers High School and the rest of our athletic programs. Anything you can do to help with the FHS Gridiron Club Golf Outing will be greatly appreciated. Help make this annual Tiger Football event a success!!!