National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- November 9, 1998

Sportsmanship group pursues new award

Committee develops process to recognize student-athlete achievement at CTSA summit

As part of its strategic plan to raise the awareness and value of good sportsmanship, the NCAA Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee during its October 21-22 meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, worked to develop a process and criteria to be used to administer an annual student-athlete sportsmanship award.

The newly created award would be part of a Citizen Through Sportsmanship Alliance initiative that will recognize individuals from Alliance member organizations for outstanding sportsmanship. The Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Summit will take place in Washington, D.C., in June 1999.

The NCAA has been an active member of the Alliance, which includes Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, the Women's National Basketball Association, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the National Federation of State High School Associations, the National Junior College Athletic Association and the United States Olympic Committee.

The committee developed two plans that it will submit to the Division I Strategic Planning Cabinet and the Divisions II and III Management Councils for review, one that outlines procedures to determine a student-athlete sportsmanship award winner for the 1998-99 academic year and another that addresses selection procedures for subsequent years.

The committee also reviewed actions taken by the Strategic Planning Cabinet and the Divisions II and III Management Councils with respect to three proposals that the committee set forth from its summer meeting. Two of the proposals concerned gambling issues, one regarding language to be added to the NCAA policy on gambling and another recommending that NCAA staff be prohibited from attending meetings of affiliated organizations in metropolitan areas that contained legal or open sports books.

Both proposals either were defeated or referred back to the committee with recommendations to amend specific language. The committee expressed its concern that neither proposal was adopted and reaffirmed its position that the proposals were sound and should be resubmitted for future consideration after language modifications are adopted. The committee agreed to consider possible amendments and to develop a clear rationale as part of any future proposal.

A third proposal requested that background checks be conducted on officials who could be selected to work various NCAA championship events. It was noted that the Strategic Planning Cabinet had approved the proposal and forwarded it to the Championships/Competition Cabinet, which also had approved the proposal and agreed to develop a specific plan during its February meeting. However, the proposal was defeated in Divisions II and III.

Also, the committee noted that the Division I Management Council had referred Proposal No. 98-106 regarding summer basketball event and/or league certification to the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet for further review. The proposal would prohibit any individual who has been found or pled guilty to sports bribery, point shaving or game fixing from having any involvement as an operator, staff member or participant in an NCAA certified basketball event or summer basketball league.

The committee voted to voice its support of the proposal to the Academics/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet and to the Division I Working Group to Study Basketball Issues.

Other highlights

Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee

October 21-22/Kansas City, Missouri

  • Discussed the possibility of developing a video targeted toward Divisions II and III student-athletes that would strictly address compulsive gambling issues or that would include gambling along with sportsmanship and ethical conduct issues. The committee asked its members to solicit feedback regarding those options from the Divisions II and III Management Councils at the 1999 Convention.

  • Recommended for the Strategic Planning Cabinet's and Management Council's consideration the adoption in principle of a public service announcement similar to what appears in most NCAA championships handbooks that could be used by member institutions during regular-season contests.

  • Voted to propose the creation of a "code of conduct" that could be incorporated into a poster that would be distributed to member institutions.

  • Discussed the possibility of creating for member institutions a central location of resources that would serve as a repository for models or programs that emphasized good sportsmanship and ethical conduct at various schools.