NATCHEZ — Vicksburg native and current NFL player Ben Brown will be the featured speaker at the Miss Lou Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame’s 42nd Annual Scholastic Awards Banquet on Feb. 25 in Natchez.

The banquet will honor 12 high school athletes from the Natchez area. They were selected based on their academic performance, their football athletic achievements, their achievement in other sports, and extra-curricular activities, including school, community, and church.

Brown, who graduated from St. Aloysius High School in Vicksburg and played college football at Ole Miss, recently completed his third season in the NFL. He started 10 games at center for the New England Patriots, after previously playing for Cincinnati, Seattle, Las Vegas and Arizona.

Brown has ties to Natchez as well as Vicksburg. His grandparents are the late Allen Brown and Margaret Burkes Brown of Natchez.

The banquet takes place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at the Father David O’Connor Family Life Center on Main Street in Natchez.

Tickets to the event are $20 each and may be purchased from any local member of the Miss Lou Chapter of the National Football Foundation. For more information, or to inquire about tickets, email Freddie Sandel at fsandel@msn.com or lsandel1@outlook.com.

“The Miss Lou Chapter will award a total of $10,000 to the senior scholar athletes based on their achievements, as stated above,” said Sandel, president of the Miss Lou Chapter of the National Football Foundation. “The junior high and middle school athletes will be recognized and will receive a plaque for the achievements. We are excited and extremely proud of our area’s scholar athletes, both high school and junior high, and look forward to meeting them at our banquet.”