The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- January 4, 1999

Richardson to be 32nd recipient of NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award

Bill Richardson, secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is the 1999 recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the most prestigious honor bestowed on an individual by the NCAA.

Richardson is the 32nd recipient of the "Teddy," which will be awarded at the annual NCAA honors dinner January 10.

A congressman for 14 years before moving to his U.N. position, Richardson is a 1970 graduate of Tufts University, where he led the Jumbos baseball team to the co-championship of the Greater Boston League as a senior. That season, he compiled a 2-0 record in 171/3 innings, striking out 19, posting an earned-run average of 3.12 and surrendering 14 hits. He enjoyed his best individual season in 1968, notching a 4-4 won-lost record in 631/3 innings, allowing 43 hits, striking out 59 batters and registering an ERA of 2.98.

A two-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, Richardson will serve in his current dual role before moving solely to the Department of Energy post when another ambassador is selected. A member of President Clinton's cabinet and the National Security Council, he is the first Hispanic to serve in a foreign policy cabinet-level position.

Appointed to his U.N. position in 1996, Richardson ushered through the U.N. Security Council's six resolutions and statements condemning Iraq's refusal to comply with U.N. resolutions on weapons of mass destruction, and he traveled to nine Security Council capitals as a presidential envoy to gather support for the policy on Iraq.

He won an agreement for face-to-face peace talks between Afghanistan's Taliban regime and opposing factions; secured a military stand down; and negotiated prisoner releases during the highest ranking U.S. visit to Afghanistan since 1973.

Richardson also worked closely with key congressional leaders to craft bipartisan legislation that would pay the U.S.'s $1 billion debt to the U.N.

Elected to the House of Representatives in 1982 from New Mexico's third congressional district, one of the largest and most ethnically diverse districts in the country, he served as chief deputy whip and chair of the Native American Affairs Subcommittee of the 103rd Congress, authoring dozens of bills aimed at improving all aspects of Native American life.

Richardson is a board member of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Art Has Heart Foundation and the International Planned Parenthood Federation of the Western Region. He serves as a board member for the New Mexico chapters for the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Native American Preparatory School, and Youth Shelters and Family Services. A founding board member of Project Vote Smart, he is president of the U.S. Spain Council, a member of the Board of Visitors for the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and has delivered more than 160 speeches for charitable organizations.