NCAA President Cedric W. Dempsey has been selected as the recipient of the 34th James J. Corbett Memorial Award.

The Corbett Award, considered the highest honor for collegiate athletics administration, is presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) to the athletics administrator who "through the years has most typified Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment." Corbett, former athletics director at Louisiana State University, was NACDA's first president in 1965.

In addition to receiving the Corbett Award, Dempsey will receive an honorary degree from the Sports Management Institute, an educational institute sponsored by the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the University of Notre Dame; the University of South Carolina, Columbia; the University of Southern California; the University of Texas at Austin; and NACDA.

Dempsey in 1994 was chosen as the NCAA's third executive director, a title that was changed to president in 1998.

Dempsey has led the Association through many significant changes, including a governance restructuring in 1997 that gave more autonomy to the Association's three membership divisions. Dempsey also oversaw a massive relocation effort that moved the Association's national office from Overland Park, Kansas, to Indianapolis, a move that saved the organization millions of dollars and allowed the NCAA to be more centrally located among its membership.

Dempsey also played a pivotal role in the Association's most recent television contract negotiations with CBS, inking an 11-year media and marketing rights package worth at least $6 billion. The agreement allows the Association to increase its revenue distribution to its members for the support of student-athlete opportunities.

Dempsey also has led an aggressive campaign to diversify the national office staff and increase the use of technology in providing timely and efficient communication with the Association's membership.

Before joining the NCAA, Dempsey served as director of athletics at the University of Arizona, the University of Houston, San Diego State University and the University of the Pacific (California). Before holding those positions, he had been an assistant director of health, physical education, recreation and athletics, professor and assistant basketball coach at Arizona; head basketball, cross country and tennis coach at Albion College, and held various positions at the University of Illinois, Champaign.

Dempsey's involvement with the NCAA began in 1972. He has been chair of the Budget Subcommittee and Division I Men's Basketball Committee. He also has served on the Executive Committee, Committee on Cost Containment, Division I Women's Basketball Committee, Television Negotiating Committee and Football Television Committee. At the time of his appointment as executive director, Dempsey was serving as the NCAA secretary-treasurer.

A national leader in athletics, Dempsey served on NACDA's Executive Committee from 1989-91, then as NACDA's 3rd, 2nd and 1st vice-president. In addition, he has served on various committees for the Pacific-10 Conference and the Southwest Athletic Conference. Dempsey was a recipient of the NACDA Award for Administrative Excellence in 1994. He has been inducted into the University of the Pacific Sports Hall of Fame, the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame and the Albion College Hall of Fame.

Dempsey and his wife, June, received the 1999 Partners for Democracy Award from the America-Israel Friendship League for their work in strengthening the relationship between Israel and the United States.

Dempsey earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Albion and his doctorate at Illinois. In 1995, he received an honorary doctorate of laws from Albion.

"To receive this highest honor for athletics administrators has a special meaning since my peers have made the selection," Dempsey said upon learning of the honor. "I am completing my 50th year in intercollegiate athletics, as an athlete, coach and administrator.

"As I was just beginning my administrative career, NACDA was being formed and Jim Corbett was named its first president. He was a role model for many of us. It is a humbling feeling to receive an award named for one of the early leaders in collegiate athletics and to be placed alongside the previous outstanding recipients."

The past three winners of the Corbett Award, which has been given since 1967, have been Charles M. Neinas, former executive director of the College Football Association; James Frank, former NCAA president and commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference; and Eugene F. Corrigan, former NCAA president and commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference.