November 21, 2024
South Sumter High Graduate Denver Griffis Earns USA South Sportsmanship Award
By Kyle Coppola
South Sumter High Graduate Denver Griffis Earns USA South Sportsmanship Award
South Sumter High graduate Denver Griffis has been awarded the USA South Sportsmanship award. Griffis is currently listed as a senior at LaGrange. This accolade is awarded to one player who have exemplified exceptional sportsmanship throughout the season.
Griffis, a graduate of South Sumter High School, has showcased resilience and dedication during his football journey. After missing the entire 2023 season due to injury, Griffis returned to action this year and was everything you would come to expect as a graduate of South Sumter, resilient and a good person.
(Denver Griffis – Photo Credit – LaGrange College)
In 2022, Griffis appeared in six games, recording seven tackles, including two tackles for loss and one sack. The previous year, in 2021, he contributed seven tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss across seven games. This year he played in 8 games and had 10 tackles.
During his high school tenure, Griffis shined as a member of the honor society and earned All-Region honors in football. As a senior at South Sumter in 2020, he recorded 32 tackles, 11 of which were for loss, and six sacks. Griffis is currently attending school for Business Entrepreneurship and marketing while minoring in Servant Scholars and Accounting.
But Griffis is recognized for more than his athletic achievements. Coaches, teammates, and opponents praise his unwavering positivity, selflessness, and willingness to help others. Griffis is an awesome person on and off the field, Denver embodies the best of what a teammate and leader should be.
We are proud of Denver and his continued commitment to excellence. At South Sumter High School the motto is “Tradition Never Graduates.” Denver Griffis continues to show why that motto reigns true. Congratulations on a great year and winning the USA South Sportsmanship Award. Go Denver!
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
