The award is presented to the college defensive player of the year by the Maxwell Football Club and is named after Al-American Chuck Bednarik.
The last of the 60-minute men, he was a stalwart at both linebacker and center for the 1960 NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and a three-year All-American from the University of Pennsylvania playing on both sides of the ball. Certainly, when the Maxwell Football Club decided to have an award for College Defensive Player of the Year, the first name to come to mind for this award was Charles Philip (Chuck) Bednarik.