National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- November 23, 1998 Six honored with Silver Anniversary Awards Six former student-athletes who enjoyed prominent collegiate careers in football, rowing and basketball while going on to succeed as athletics administrators, coaches and broadcasters are this year's NCAA Silver Anniversary Award recipients. The award recognizes former student-athletes who have distinguished themselves since completing their college athletics careers 25 years ago. The award winners were selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, which is composed of athletics administrators at member institutions and distinguished citizens who are former student-athletes. This year's honorees are David J. Casper, University of Notre Dame, football; Anita L. DeFrantz, Connecticut College, rowing and basketball; Pat Head Summitt, University of Tennessee at Martin, basketball; Lynn Swann, University of Southern California, football; Robert R. Thomas, University of Notre Dame, football; and Bill Walton, University of California, Los Angeles, basketball. These individuals will be recognized January 10 at the honors dinner during the NCAA Convention in San Antonio.
David J. Casper
A tight end on Sports Illustrated's all-time dream team, the second-round draft selection of the Oakland Raiders played professional football for the Raiders, the Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams from 1974-84. A member of Oakland's 1997 Super Bowl champion team, he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl five times. After retiring from his playing career, Casper spent a season as an NBC color commentator before joining Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, where he works as a district agent. An active participant in the Life Insurance Underwriters Association, he has been a member of Northwestern Mutual's Million Dollar Round Table for the past six years. In 1993, he was a recipient of a GTE Academic Hall of Fame honor for outstanding career achievement and contribution to the community. He also was named to the GTE Academic All-American All-Time Team in 1997. A supporter of the Ronald McDonald House, he has served on that program's board of directors since 1986 and founded the organization's celebrity golf tournament in 1985. Casper also is active in ABC Organization of Edina, a local children's organization.
The president of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles and a practicing attorney, she was an 1976 Olympic bronze medalist in rowing and a silver medalist in the 1978 World Championships. She became the first female vice-president of the International Olympic Committee in 1997, after having served as a member of the United States Olympic Committee's Board of Directors and Executive Committee. She served as vice-president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and has held various leadership positions with the Women's World Cup, the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee, Southern California Olympians, International Rowing Federation, Women's Sports Federation, IOC Women and Sport working group, and IOC Executive Board. The recipient of the 1997 Olympic Torch Award, the highest recognition for service to the USOC, DeFrantz is a member of the board of directors for the Martin Luther King Legacy Association, the Jackie Joyner Kersee Community Foundation and the Community Television of Southern California (KCET) board of trustees. Among the many awards she has received are the "Guirlande d'Honneur" from the Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs; Billie Jean King Contribution Award from the Women's Sports Foundation; Medal of Honor from the International Softball Federation; NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund's Black Women of Achievement Award; Honor Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators; U. S. Rowing's Jack Kelly Award for superior achievements in rowing and service to amateur athletics; USOC and IOC Woman of the Year; and the NAACP's Jack-ie Robinson Sports Achievement Award.
A 1990 inductee to the Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame, Summitt's six NCAA championships are tops among women's basketball coaches. She is second in career victories by a female coach with 663, having compiled a winning percentage of .803 in 24 years. In 1990, she was the first female recipient of the John Bunn Award from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Summitt is a three-time Naismith Coach of the Year and two-time winner of the same honor from the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Summitt has served as honorary chair of the Tennessee Easter Seal Society four times; was state chair of the American Heart Association in 1994, and co-chair of United Way Campaign in Knoxville, 1996. She also has been recognized as one of the 25 most influential working mothers by Working Mothers magazine; was named distinguished citizen of the year by the Great Smoky Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1996; and is a member of the board of trustees for both the Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball Halls of Fame. She also is a member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
A member of four Super Bowl teams with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers and the 1976 game's most valuable player, he ranks second in Steelers history in receptions, receiving yardage and receiving touchdowns, and fifth in scoring. He has been a field reporter for Monday Night Football and ABC's College Game of the Week, and has served as a commentator for the 1984 Summer Olympics and 1988 Winter Olympics, as well as ABC's Wide World of Sports. A member of the national board of directors and a spokesperson for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America since 1980, he also has created a youth scholarship program for the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School. He has received a 1990 Merit Award from his alma mater and an NAACP Image Award in 1979. In 1980, he was named Pittsburgh's Multiple Sclerosis Athlete of the Year.
Now an appellate court justice in Illinois, Thomas kicked in the NFL for 12 years, establishing himself as the third-leading scorer in Chicago Bears history. He holds the team records for field goals and points scored by a kicker. In 1977, he kicked the game-winning field goal that put the Bears in the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. A 1981 graduate of Loyola University (Illinois) School of Law, he was elected DuPage County Circuit Court judge in 1988 and is an acting chief judge. He was elected Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District in 1994. In 1996, he was inducted into the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame and was named to the GTE Academic All-America All-Time Team the following year. A motivational speaker for churches, corporations, community groups and schools, Thomas is president of the Restoration Ministries Advisory Boards and past president of the Wheaton Christian Grammar School board of directors. He donates to multiple civic causes, including the Chicago Boys Club, Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund, Multiple Sclerosis Society and Portes Cancer Prevention Center.
Recognized as one of the NBA's top 50 players of all time, the top draft pick of the 1974 NBA draft enjoyed a 14-year professional playing career during which was a member of two championship teams and was the 1978 league MVP. The first of only two NBA players to lead his team in blocked shots and rebounds in the same season, he was the recipient of the NBA Players' Association's Oscar Robertson Leadership Award in 1991. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993, the GTE Academic All-America team in 1994 and the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. Now a television sports announcer, Walton received an Emmy for his work on an environmental documentary in 1979 and was nominated for two others for television broadcasting in 1995 and 1996. He is active in many civic causes in the San Diego area, including the Amy White Foundation, San Diego Hall of Champions, Zoological Society, Natural History Museum, Sea World, Lifeguard Association, Historical Society, Magnet Schools Program, Humane Society, Animal Shelter, Greater San Diego Sports Council and Goodwill, and has aided in the restoration of many of the area's athletics facilities. The many other causes with which he works include YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, UCLA Center for the Aging, Greenpeace, Humane Society of the United States, NBA Stay in School Program, NBA Referees Charity, XNBA Player Association, Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of America. He also serves as a spokesperson for the Stuttering Foundation and is a member of the GTE Academic All-American speakers team. |
Senior captain of the 1973 Fighting Irish team that was postseason consensus No. 1, Casper was the first-team all-American tight end the same year, catching 19 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns. That same year, he was a College All-Star Game and Hula Bowl participant. A three-year letter-winner, Casper was a starting offensive tackle as a junior before moving to the tight-end position in which he starred in the NFL. He also earned honors off the field, including academic all-American (1973), election to the Omicron Delta Epsilon honor society (economics) and receiving an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and National Football Foundation scholarship.
DeFrantz was a three-year member of the rowing team and a two-year member of the basketball team while at Connecticut College and was inducted to the school's hall of fame in 1978. Active in campus politics, she authored the school's student bill of rights in 1973, chaired its judiciary board and founded the school's Black Students for Quality Education organization.
Primarily known for coaching the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to six national championships in women's basketball, Summitt also enjoyed an outstanding playing career at her alma mater. During her four letter-winning years, the team posted a 64-29 record. Summitt also enjoyed international success as a player, serving as co-captain for the 1976 gold medal Olympic team. She also was co-captain of gold-medal-winning teams at the 1975 Pan American and World University Games.
One of the Trojans' all-time football greats, Swann left his alma mater as the team's career leader in receptions with 95, earning consensus all-American honors as a senior. He remains ranked among the school's top 10 in receptions and punt returns. During his career, the Trojans finished ranked No. 1 in 1972, won the then-Pacific 8 Conference title in 1972 and 1973, and earned Rose Bowl bids both seasons. He is a member of the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame and the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame.
The kicker of the game-winning field goal against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl that sealed the season-ending No. 1 ranking for the 1973 Notre Dame squad, Thomas set numerous school kicking records while winning three letters. He led the 1973 team in scoring with 90 points, scored 98 career extra points in 101 attempts, kicked 21 career field goals and set the school record with 62 consecutive extra points. A 1973 academic all-American, he was a dean's list student who graduated with a 3.600 grade-point average as a government major.
The three-time college player of the year led the Bruins to two NCAA championships and three then-Pacific 8 titles during his collegiate career. The Sullivan Award winner as the nation's top amateur athlete in 1973, Walton was a three-time academic all-American, Pac-8 Player of the Year and team most valuable player.