National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

April 13, 1998

President honors Giant Steps winners during NSAD reception

President Clinton recognized the 11th annual National Student-Athlete Day (NSAD) during a reception April 6 at the White House, where he honored Giant Steps Award winners and four high-school student-athletes who received NSAD Award Certificates.

Cosponsored by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS), Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society and the NCAA, NSAD acknowledges the accomplishments of student-athletes in the classroom, on the playing field and in their communities.

In conjunction with NSAD, the Giant Steps Awards recognize the parents, teachers, coaches and school systems that make it possible for young people to find the balance between academics, athletics and life pursuits.

This year's Giant Steps Award recipients (and award category) are:

  • Warrick Dunn (civic leader). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie running back from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, helped four Tampa families with down payments and furnishings for new homes. Raised by a single mother, Dunn was the oldest of six children, and, as a teenager, took over the role of parent when his mother was murdered.

  • Kathryn Waldo (courageous student-athlete). The Northeastern University ice hockey player was born with cystic fibrosis, a congenital disease for which the life expectancy is 20 years of age. Kathryn helped lead the Huskies to a national women's ice hockey championship in 1996.

  • Dwight Collins (courageous student-athlete). The University of Central Florida football running back from Lake Charles, Louisiana, has been deaf since the age of 11 months as a result of meningitis. Collins received the 1997 Disney's Spirit Award, maintains a high grade-point average, led Central Florida with a 6.5-yards-per-carry average and is a fifth-degree black belt.

  • Dorothy Gators (coach). The head women's basketball coach at Marshall High School in Chicago has coached teams to 18 city championships and six state titles in one of Chicago's most poverty-stricken areas. Many of Gators' players have gone on to play professionally in Europe and the United States.

  • Eddie Robinson (coach). Robinson retired at Grambling State University after 57 years, 408 victories (more than anyone in college history), nine Black College National Championships and 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships. His players had a graduation rate of more than 80 percent.

    NSAD events were held in all 50 states, and more than 240,000 certificates of recognition were awarded to high-school student-athletes who met the criteria of a 3.000 or higher grade-point average, participation on an athletics team and community service.

    "We are proud to have our award winners honored by President Clinton," said Richard Lapchick, director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society and NCAS executive director. "He has been an inspiration and a strong supporter of our programs.

    "The award winners were chosen because of their strong commitment to academics and athletics, and for their effort to give back to their communities that supported them."

    "This year's award winners uphold the values and ideals of National Student-Athlete Day, and the NCAA is very pleased to again support the day's events," said NCAA Executive Director Cedric W. Dempsey. "The continued efforts of the members of the NCAS, complemented by the strength of the NCAA, have truly increased the impact of NSAD nationwide."

    The NCAS's mission is to help create a better society by focusing on educational attainment and using the power and appeal of sport to positively affect social change.