The Lower Merion High School varsity football program delivered its annual youth clinic proceeds to the Lower Merion Township Scholarship Fund on Monday, Aug. 17, continuing a tradition that has funneled money toward college-bound graduates from both LMHS and Harriton since 2008.

Head coach Joe Augustine presented the donation to LMTSF board member Lou Savastani at the school, with lead donor attorney John Pumphrey and his son Luke present, Main Line Media News reported. The specific dollar amount was not disclosed.

The coed youth football clinic doubles as a community-service and senior-project opportunity for LMHS student-athletes. Since 2010, the event has been dedicated in memory of Dr. Joseph W. Foote, an Ardmore oral surgeon whose three sons played Bulldogs football. Foote, who served as chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, died in February 2010 at age 61.

The tradition dates to 2008.

Members of the Foote family remain involved. Mrs. Susie Foote and Joseph A. Foote, DMD, MD, were among the 2026 clinic's top sponsors, alongside Pumphrey, Edward L. Woehling, DDS, Catherine M. Foote, DMD, and Jim Brown of the Narberth Athletics Association.

The scholarship fund those proceeds support has awarded more than 4,700 scholarships totaling over $4.7 million since its founding in 1964, according to LMTSF's website. The fund awards grants based solely on financial need to graduates of Lower Merion and Harriton who attend accredited colleges, universities or trade schools full-time.

In May, 41 seniors from the class of 2026 received LMTSF scholarships at the annual New Recipients' Reception at Merion Tribute House on May 20. The breakdown: 22 from Harriton and 19 from Lower Merion High School. Two new scholarships were added this year, one funded by the LMHS Class of 1958 and another by friends and family of longtime Cynwyd Elementary teacher Nancy Einstein.

LMTSF co-chair Sarah Altman said at the May 20 reception that each scholarship signals to students that the LMSD community backs them beyond graduation.

The clinic itself runs on volunteer labor. Narberth Athletic Association president Melissa O'Connor handles online registration each year, and the NAA covers the cost of clinic shirts silk-screened by Mark Williams, owner of Jellen Designs. LMHS alumnus Brett Strohsacker, vice president of football communications for the Philadelphia Eagles, donates branded gear bags and water bottles to participants.

Principal Mike Johnson and the LM Athletics staff supported the Aug. 17 event. Families interested in the 2027 clinic can contact sponsor Mary Brown at [email protected]. LMTSF scholarship applications for the next cycle open in November.