The NCAA News - News and Features

June 16, 1997

NACDA Preseason Games Scholar-Athlete winners announced

Each will receive $5,000 scholarship

Ten winners of the annual NACDA Preseason Games Scholar-Athlete Awards have been announced by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

The winners, chosen from 311 nominees, will each receive a $5,000 grant to be used toward postgraduate studies. The total of $50,000 in scholarships is funded by proceeds from NACDA's two preseason football games, the Kickoff and Pigskin Classics.

The NACDA Foundation has awarded close to $7 million in scholarships since 1983.

The winners will receive their awards at NACDA's 32nd annual Convention June 15-18. The ceremony will occur June 17 during the NACDA Scholarship Awards Luncheon, presented by Sears. Robin Roberts of ESPN will serve as master of ceremonies.

The 10 NACDA Preseason Games Scholar-Athletes are:

Greg Bellisari, Ohio State, football; Christina Burness, Texas Tech, volleyball; Amy Carter, Emory, soccer; Scott Farnham, DePauw, football; Carrie Ferguson, Capital, basketball; Kimberly Hirai, Indiana, diving; Carlton Hendrix, Air Force, football; Matt Keneley, Southern California, football; Josh Lemmon, Dayton, football; and Seamus Lonergan, Dartmouth, basketball.

"These 10 winners, and all the nominees, are truly representative of the hard work and spirit of collegiate student-athletes," said C. William Byrne Jr., chair of the NACDA Honors and Awards Committee and the director of athletics at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Athletes from all sports are eligible for these awards. Each of the 311 nominees had a minimum grade-point average of 3.000 (4.000 scale) in undergraduate study, was named to at least the all-America or all-conference team in their respective sports, and were in their final year of athletics eligibility.

A blue-ribbon panel -- including outstanding education, business and industry leaders who have made many positive contributions to amateur athletics at the collegiate and Olympic levels -- voted on the finalists.

Their ballots were sent to Price Waterhouse, which tabulated the votes and determined the winners.

Members of the panel were Gary Bender, TNT Sports; Greg Gumbel, NBC Sports; Keith Jackson, ABC Sports; Dick Kazmaier, president, Kazmaier Associates, Inc., and 1951 Heisman Trophy winner; Donna Lopiano, executive director, Women's Sports Foundation; Robert Mulcahy, chief executive officer, New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority; Dee Ray, former president and co-founder, Raycom Sports; Roberts of ESPN; Richard D. Schultz, executive director, United States Olympic Committee; Roger Staubach, president, The Staubach Company, and 1963 Heisman Trophy winner; and George Steinbrenner, owner, New York Yankees and vice-president, U.S. Olympic Committee.

Funding for the scholarships comes from proceeds from NACDA's two preseason football games, the Kickoff and Pigskin Classics. Therefore, five of the 10 scholarships are awarded to football players (three in Division I-A and two in other divisions), and the other five are awarded to student-athletes in other sports.