Cherokee Graduate Named Positive Male Athlete Of The Year

CANTON, GA -- A graduate of Cherokee High School has been named Georgia's Positive Male Athlete of the Year.

Jacob Klebar, a member of the school’s football team who graduated in May, will be honored this month at the 2016-17 Georgia Positive Athlete Awards at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.

The award is presented by Positive Athlete Georgia, a subsidiary of Celebrate Positive LLC, which promotes the benefits of positivity to young athletes around the world. Hines Ward, a former Forest Park High School, University of Georgia and Pittsburgh Steelers football star, formed Positive Athlete with local businessman Scott Pederson.

More than 3,400 students are nominated annually by coaches, principals, athletic directors, teachers and parents. Awards are presented for specific sports and regions, with the top award – Positive Athlete of the Year -- presented to one male and one female student for the entire state.

In addition to excellence on the field, Positive Athletes must show characteristics such as an optimistic attitude, teammate encouragement, servant leadership, heart for others, ability to admit imperfections, giving 100 percent all the time, and realizing the team as more important than the individual.

An injury left Klebar unable to play on the field his junior and senior years, but that didn’t end his membership on the team, as he stayed on the roster and involved in encouraging and coaching his teammates. Klebar will attend Reinhardt University on an academic scholarship.

Images via Cherokee County School District