DALLAS -- William Friday, president emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, accepted the second annual NCAA President's Gerald R. Ford Award at the NCAA Convention's opening business session January 8.

Friday, current chair of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, received recognition from NCAA President Myles Brand, who praised Friday for elevating the importance of higher education and the development of an involved and participatory citizenry by ensuring that access is available to all.

Friday served as North Carolina's president for three decades. He has chaired the Knight Commission for the past 15 years.

During his acceptance speech, Friday displayed his passion for intercollegiate athletics competition remaining a strong part of American culture.

"You and I are guardians in the tradition of this country,'' Friday told the crowded ballroom. "We want to see these programs grow and flourish simply because their success is essential to the well-being of the United States and to our way of life.''

Friday also called on delegates to show the American public who is in control of intercollegiate athletics.

"We know best what needs to be done,'' he said. "We know best how to get it done. We know best the consequences of failure to act or default in leadership.''

After graduating from North Carolina's law school in 1948, Friday has played a prominent role on the campus. He began his administrative career at North Carolina by serving as the assistant dean of students from 1948 to 1951.

He served as an assistant to President Gordon Gray for the next four years until being appointed secretary of the university in 1955. The next year he was named the president of North Carolina and held the position until his retirement in 1986.

Friday was president of the university during turbulent times where he helped fight for fairness and integrity during desegregation and the Civil Rights movement. Another battle he fought was to rally support to repeal the Speaker Ban Law, which was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1963.

The law made it illegal for critics of the government to appear on North Carolina's campus. Friday defended the intellectual freedom of the university and its independence from legislative control until the federal government repealed the ban in 1968.

"This country gave the world the idea of the public school,'' Friday said. "We created the world's greatest system of universities. It's interesting that out of that the foundation has grown into a cultural force in our country: intercollegiate athletic competition. As Myles (Brand) said, there will be hundreds of thousands of young people in dozens and dozens of our colleges and universities and in dozens and dozens of sports to have the experience in coordination of mind and body and the thrill of personal achievement.''

Through the years, Friday has served in leadership roles on a number of national committees, boards and commissions. They include the Association of American Universities, the Commission on White House Fellows, The Presidential Task Force on Higher Education under two administrations and the Board of Governors of the Center for Creative Leadership.

In 1986, a study by the Council of Advancement and Support Education rated Friday the most effective public university president in the nation.

Friday, 84, remains interested in the current issues that are in the forefront of intercollegiate sports today.

"You and I know we have to do something about graduation rates,'' Friday said. "We look forward to what the Committee on Academic Performance is going to do. ... We also know what our president has said of the burdensome financial excesses that exist. Some of our institutions have not respected contractual relationships with coaches the way universities should. This instability involves both parties. It has got to be corrected.''

As his parting message to delegates, Friday said, "We should gather the will and the determination to make changes ourselves to meet the responsibilities we hold and do what is necessary and to do it now.

"We do not need Congressional intervention to do our duty. So my friends, it is time we bring the strength and power to the hand of our president and the Board of Directors as they seek now to do what is right. We really don't have any further choice.''

The Ford Award was created to honor 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.

It is named for President Gerald R. Ford, who served America as its 38th president during one of the most tumultuous periods of this nation's political history. He was also a student-athlete at the University of Michigan where he participated on the national championship football teams in 1932 and 1933.