Raiders wide receiver Chris Looney ’13 catches recognition for academic prowess

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wide receiver Chris Looney

Wide receiver Chris Looney ’13 has a 3.90 GPA and is majoring in international relations and history.

Colgate wide receiver Chris Looney capped an amazing senior season by being named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America Division I Football Team.

Looney was selected for first-team honors by the College Sports Information Directors of America. It is Colgate’s first Academic All-America recipient since John Frieser in 2003.

Looney, like Frieser in his senior year, also was named Patriot League Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Last month, Looney was named to the Capital One Academic All-District I Team.

An international relations and history major with a 3.90 grade-point average, Looney led the Raiders to a 8-4 record and the Patriot League championship. He earned All-Patriot League second-team honors after leading Colgate in all three receiving categories — 43 receptions, 776 yards, and six touchdowns.

Looney was joined on the Academic All-America first team at wide receiver by Liberty’s Pat Kelly. The second-team wideouts were Montana State’s Tanner Bleskin and Central Michigan’s Cody Wilson.

Alabama offensive lineman Barrett Jones was named 2012 Capital One Academic All-America of the Year.

Looney, a Verona, N.J., native, has received the Colgate University Dean’s Award for Excellence and been placed on the school’s Athletics Honor Roll four times apiece. He is a Charles A. Dana Scholar for “superior achievement as well as demonstrated leadership in the college community.”

He also has done plenty of work off the field in his time in Hamilton.

Looney has been part of the Colgate University Leadership Academy for three years and is an executive board member for Uplifting Athletes, helping to raise more than $15,000 for ependymoma research. He also participated in events for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, breast cancer research,  and served as a mentor for fifth-grade students on the dangers of drugs and alcohol.