The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh has been selected as the first recipient of the NCAA President's Gerald R. Ford Award.

Hesburgh is the president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame. The award, named in recognition of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, honors an individual who has provided significant leadership as an advocate for intercollegiate athletics on a continuous basis over the course of his or her career.

NCAA President Myles Brand will present the award to Hesburgh at the opening business session of the 2004 NCAA Convention January 11 in Nashville. The NCAA will make a $25,000 donation to the general scholarship fund of the institution of Hesburgh's choice.

Hesburgh was named president of Notre Dame in 1952 at age 35. He served as president until he stepped down in June 1987. Since his retirement, he has continued as a guest lecturer at the university and has written several books, including his autobiography, "God, Country, Notre Dame," a national bestseller in 1990.

Hesburgh was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor awarded by Congress, in July 2000. In 1964, Hesburgh received the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. He has held 16 presidential appointments during his career involving civil rights, peaceful uses of atomic energy and third-world development. He has received more than 150 honorary degrees, believed to be the most ever awarded to one person.

He was educated at Notre Dame and the Gregorian University in Rome, from which he received a bachelor of philosophy degree in 1939. In 1943, he was ordained a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, and in 1945, he received his doctorate from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He joined the Notre Dame department of religion that same year.

"Reverend Hesburgh's 35-year career as president of the one of the most prestigious universities in the country enabled him to be a major influence on the evolution of higher education in the last half of the 20th century," Brand said. "He also is one of the strongest advocates for the contribution intercollegiate athletics can make to the academy."

Hesburgh was co-chair of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which studied reform in college sports from 1990 to 1996, and again when it reconvened in 2000.

"The first Knight Commission report was an important impetus to the academic-reform movement within intercollegiate athletics that has taken place over the last dozen years," Brand said.

Ford, now 90 years old, is expected to attend the awards ceremony. He was vice- president when he took the oath of office in 1974 after Richard Nixon resigned. Ford served as president until 1977.

His political career began in 1948 when he was elected to Congress from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He rose to become House Minority Leader in 1965, a post he held until Nixon appointed him vice-president in 1973.

Ford played football at the University of Michigan, where he participated on national-championship teams in 1932 and 1933. He started every game at center his senior year and was voted most valuable player by teammates.

Ford received contract offers from the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, which he turned down in favor of studying law at Yale. Before beginning his law courses, Ford coached freshman football and boxing.

Ford continued to serve as an advocate for the value of sport his entire career, and he remains an avid golfer.

"Both as a public servant and as an athlete, President Ford embodies the qualities of integrity, achievement and dedication that we aspire to in intercollegiate athletics," Brand said.

Each year, the NCAA president and a group of Association leaders will select and present the award at the NCAA Convention.

"The addition of this new award to the NCAA Convention serves as an enhancement to the existing elements of the Convention programming and will further spotlight the positive connection between intercollegiate athletics and higher education," Brand said.