The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics has selected Vince Dooley, director of athletics at the University of Georgia, as 39th recipient of the James J. Corbett Memorial Award.

The Corbett Award is presented annually to the collegiate administrator who "through the years has most typified Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment." Corbett, athletics director at Louisiana State University, was NACDA's first president in 1965. The award is the highest honor NACDA presents.

In addition to receiving the Corbett Award, Dooley will receive an honorary degree from the Sports Management Institute, an educational institute sponsored by NACDA; 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; and the University of Texas at Austin.

"Receiving the James Corbett Award is a wonderful honor for many reasons and I am grateful to those who named me as a recipient," Dooley said. "I had the great privilege of knowing Jim Corbett, the individual the award memorializes and the one who spearheaded the formation of NACDA and served as its first president. Jim was a highly respected athletics director at LSU and was a real leader in the Southeastern Conference when I first became the head football coach at Georgia.

"The Corbett Award also is special because it allows me to be in the company of so many outstanding leaders in intercollegiate athletics who are past recipients. I am proud to be mentioned in the same breath with those who have given so much to intercollegiate athletics. To be recognized with the association's highest award is both a heartfelt and humbling experience."

Dooley's extensive career in collegiate athletics began when he returned to Auburn University, his alma mater, after service in the Marines to take on assistant football coaching duties. He was soon hired as the head football coach at Georgia (1963-88) where he has since remained, devoting more than 40 years of service. As head coach, Dooley led the team to six Southeastern Conference championships, 20 bowl game appearances and a national championship in 1980, one year after being named Georgia's athletics director.

Dooley continued to manage the dual role of head football coach and athletics director until 1988, during which time he earned two coach-of-the-year distinctions (1980, 1982). When he stepped down as coach to focus his energies on the athletics director position, Dooley's 201 career victories ranked third among active coaches and led to his induction into the College Hall of Fame in 1994.

The Georgia athletics program realized immense financial growth under Dooley's guidance, as the budget increased from $3 million to its current total of $43 million. This boost also facilitated the extensive construction and renovation of athletics facilities that accompanied Dooley's tenure, most recently with the opening of a new softball stadium in February. The construction of new football facilities in the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall and the Rankin-Smith Sr. Student Athletic Academic center also are among the new additions to campus under Dooley's leadership, while the university's baseball stadium, track and field complex and basketball arena received significant enhancements as well.

Dooley has been recognized with numerous distinctions. The United States Sports Academy presented Dooley with an honorary doctorate, the Carl Maddox Management Award, and invited him to address the graduates as the keynote speaker (2003). As a testament to the respect and stature he has achieved among industry leaders, Dooley's peers selected him to chair the National Sportsmanship Behavior Summit in February 2003.

Dooley served as NACDA's president in 1999-2000, and he also has led the Division I-A athletics directors (1995) and the American Football Coaches Association (1985). Additionally, he chaired the NCAA Football Rules Committee (1994-99), the NCAA Recruiting Committee (1991-94) and the College Football Association (1972-80).

He also has been active in the university and greater Georgia communities. By means of his $100,000 gift to the library, the Vincent J. Dooley Library Endowment Fund was created and has since accumulated $2.3 million. He also was instrumental in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Olympic Organizing Committee. In 1987, Dooley's extensive work with the Easter Seals Society merited his selection as the society's Volunteer of the Year.

Although the end of the 2003-04 academic year marked Dooley's final year at the helm of the Georgia athletics department, his service to the athletics community will be sustained by a new role as consultant to the Arena Football League's Georgia Force.

Past Corbett Award recipients

Past winners of the James J. Corbett Memorial Award and their affiliation at the time:

2003 Gary Cunningham, director of athletics, University of California, Santa Barbara

2002 Roy Kramer, commissioner, Southeastern Conference

2001 Jack Lengyel, director of athletics, U.S. Naval Academy

2000 Cedric Dempsey, president, NCAA

1999 Chuck Neinas, former executive director, College Football Association

1998 Jim Frank, commissioner, Southwestern Athletic Conference

1997 Gene Corrigan, commissioner, Atlantic Coast Conference

1996 Carl James, commissioner, Big Eight Conference

1995 Elizabeth (Betty) Kruczek, director of athletics, Fitchburg State University

1994 Richard Schultz, former executive director, NCAA

1993 LeRoy Walker, president, United States Olympic Committee

1992 Homer Rice, director of athletics, Georgia Institute of Technology

1991 Joe Kearney, commissioner, Western Athletic Conference

1990 George King, director of athletics, Purdue University

1989 Scotty Whitelaw, commissioner, Eastern College Athletic Conference

1988 Mike Lude, director of athletics, University of Washington

1987 John Toner, director of athletics, University of Connecticut

1986 Carl Maddox, director of athletics, Mississippi State University

1985 Cecil Coleman, commissioner, Midwestern City Conference

1984 Bud Jack, director of athletics, University of Utah

1983 Wiles Hallock, executive director, Pacific-10 Conference

1982 Edgar Sherman, director of athletics, Muskingum College

1981 Bill Flynn, director of athletics, Boston College

1980 Stan Bates, commissioner, Western Athletic Conference

1979 Harry Fouke, director of athletics, University of Houston

1978 Bill Orwig, director of athletics, Indiana University, Bloomington

1977 Bob Kane, president, United States Olympic Committee

1976 Walter Byers, executive director, NCAA

1975 Jesse Hill, executive director, PCAA

1974 Al Twitchell, director of athletics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

1973 Ernie McCoy, director of athletics, University of Miami (Florida)

1972 Bill Reed, commissioner, Big Ten Conference

1971 Tom Hamilton, commissioner, Pacific-8 Conference

1970 Dick Larkins, director of athletics, Ohio State University

1969 Asa Bushnell, commissioner, Eastern College Athletic Conference

1968 Fritz Crisler, director of athletics, University of Michigan

1967 Bernie Moore, commissioner, Southeastern Conference