They toil anonymously in the trenches. They typically shed more blood and sweat than their teammates, but rarely get their names printed in headlines or mentioned in the highlights.

They are the linemen, football’s overlooked combatants. But thanks to a new awards and scholarship program, they will be overlooked no more.

Starting next January, the Annual Frank J. Gaziano Memorial Offensive and Defensive Lineman Awards will be presented to one offensive and one defensive lineman in the state who “epitomize the character, leadership and perseverance of Gaziano,” the founder of National Distributors and a former college All-American and pro football player.

“It’s long overdue, in my mind,” Leavitt coach Mike Hathaway said. “I think it’s a great thing. Those guys are pretty much the reason that a lot of those other guys get some of those other awards.”

Linemen rarely get more than a token sniff at “those other awards,” such as the Fitzpatrick Trophy. Only one lineman, Lewiston’s Gerry Raymond in 1977, has been recognized as the top senior football player in the state in the Fitzy’s 39-year history. The Southern Maine Activities Association recognizes its top lineman annually with an award named after Raymond, but other than that, the glory for linemen has been fleeting. In 1995, the Maine Sports Hall of Fame established the Chet Bulger Award, named after the late Rumford high school star lineman, but discontinued it recently.

This award will recognize one offensive and one defensive lineman annually with a trophy and a $2,500 scholarship. Each recipient’s name will be engraved on permanent plaques that will rotate each year among the high schools of the winning players. Two runners up will also be recognized in each category and be given a commemorative plaque. All honorees will receive a special leather jacket.

Applicants are nominated by their coaches, who can nominate any number of players. Players from all of Maine’s football classes are eligible, but they must be high school seniors who have competed at the varsity level a minimum of two years. They must have an exemplary record of positive athletic and non-athletic citizenship. 

The player must submit an essay, and his coach must submit game film featuring the player competing against his team’s toughest competition. All finalists will be invited to appear before the awards committee for a personal interview.

Windham coach Matt Perkins helped organize the award and scholarship program’s 12-member board of directors, which includes Oak Hill assistant coach Mike Haley and Hathaway. He said the award stresses character as much as on-the-field accomplishments.

“We’re looking for a good kid who’s a good player at the line position,” Perkins said. “The thing that’s pretty neat about it is you’re talking about a $2,500 scholarship for an offensive and defensive lineman, which is pretty impressive.”

Perkins said the award should give linemen more visibility with college recruiters, especially since it will be a statewide award selected by a panel with representatives from all over the state. Fairly or unfairly, some statewide awards for high school athletes suffer from the perception that they are biased towards athletes from a particular region.

“We want it to be a state-wide award. We don’t want people to think ‘Oh, it’s a southern award.’ You look at the committee that we pulled together — Mike Marston is from Skowhegan, Mike Hathaway is from Leavitt. We’ve got Dean Plante from Old Orchard Beach. I wanted to make sure that I reached out to different areas.”

Hathaway said the award should have a positive impact on line play and Maine high school football overall.

“If we do something to recognize those guys, it’s promoting that position,” Hathaway said. “I think that’s good for the game, because sometimes those are the hardest kids to get to come out to play. It’s easy to sometimes to go to the basketball team and grab a tall kid who can run and say, ‘Look, you don’t have to play defense. We just want to throw you the football four or five times a game.’ But it’s harder to get somebody who knows they’re probably going to go unrecognized and they’re probably going to work harder than some of those other guys.”

Recipients will be announced at an awards banquet to be held on Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011 at the Augusta Civic Center. All nominees will receive three free tickets to attend the banquet. The featured speakers for this year’s banquet are Raymond and former Windham High School and current University of Maine defensive lineman Raibonne Charles.

Gaziano, of Cape Elizabeth, was a well-known benefactor and businessman in the Portland area. He was a lineman at the College of the Holy Cross, graduating in 1941, then went on to play professionally with the Washington Redskins and Boston Yanks. In addition to founding National Distributors, which is funding the scholarship, he was well-known in southern Maine for his weekly sports trivia column entitled “I Bet You Didn’t Know,” which he authored for 25 years. He died last January at the age of 92.

“These lineman awards are a fitting tribute to Frank,” Jeffery Kane, president of National Distributors and Gaziano’s son-in-law, said in a press release about the award. “He loved football and felt the basic principles of football helped shape his business and personal life. Frank always felt linemen were the unsung heroes of a football team.”