SOUTH BEND — Niles senior Reese Gardner was one of 44 high school football players to be honored at the 45th annual Moose Krause Memorial Scholarship presented by the Moose Krause Foundation April 25.

“The Moose Krause Chapter honors area student athletes for their on-the-field and academic accomplishments,” said Niles coach Joe Sassano.

The dinner was hosted at St. Hedwig’s Hall in South Bend.

Notre Dame assistant coach Mike Elston was the keynote speaker.

The other honorees were Appleton (South Bend St. Joseph),  Michael Bocker (Culver Academy), Austin Bontrager (Goshen), Austin Brandenburger (Fairfield), Alec Breiler (South Bend Adams), Kooper Brocker (Knox), Carson Deal (Northridge), Dawson Demien (Concord), Liam Driscoll (South Bend Adams), Isaiah Evans (Mishawaka), Alex Faulkner (Mishawaka), Reese Gardner (Niles), Damon Germano (Mishawaka), Michael Godfrey (South Bend St. Joseph), Jacob Good (LaVille), Tecory Gordon (South Bend Clay), Josh Holsopple (South Central) and Timothy Hostetler (Fairfield),

Also honored were Jacob Kaiser (Ekhart Central), Aiden Kendall (South Bend Riley), William Kuhl (Culver Academy), Nate LaFree (Plymouth), Isaiah McWilliams (South Bend Washington), James Morris (Penn), Jack Murphy (Mishawaka Marian), Carrington Neal (Penn), Patrick Piesyk (New Prairie), Cody Russell (Culver), Grant Seaburg (LaPorte), Tyler Seroczynski (Mishawaka Marian), Michael Shetler (Fairfield), Ethan Shuman (Culver), Kevin Sibal (Concord), Payton Skirvin (Plymouth), Jake Thode (LaPorte), Bryce Track (Jimtown), Mason Troyer (Northridge), Austin Weiland (New Prairie) and Trevor Weiss (John Glenn).

The award is named in honor of Krause, who was originally recruited by Knute Rockne and coined his nickname of Moose.

Krause was a two-time All-American in football and three-time All-American in basketball at Notre Dame.

He was the director of athletics for the Fighting Irish from 1948 to 1981.

The renewable four-year scholarships range from $2,000 to $8,000. Sassano said that Gardner’s scholarship was in the amount of $5,000.

Scholarship nominees come from northern Indiana and southwest Michigan.

The dinner was emceed by sports marketing director at WHME-TV and Lesea Broadcasting Bob Nagle.

Nagle has emceed the event for more than 25 years.