Two native Hoosiers, former United States Sen. Birch Bayh and hall of fame basketball coach John Wooden, returned to their home state as co-recipients of the third annual NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award at the Convention January 7.

It was an emotional time for Bayh, who was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Wooden, who was raised in Martinsville, when each received a standing ovation from the thousands of delegates in attendance at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis.

Both recipients also are graduates of Purdue University.

The award, named in recognition of former President Gerald Ford, 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.

 Bayh, known as the “the father of Title IX,” sponsored and co-authored the landmark 1972 legislation that provides equal opportunity for men and women in all federally funded education programs and activities, including athletics.

The impetus behind his passion for equality came from his late wife, Marvella, whose application to attend the University of Virginia was returned:  “Women need not apply.”

“We spent 26 and a half years together with Marvella teaching me about what it was really like being a woman in a man’s world,” Bayh said. “Without her, I know I wouldn’t understand the importance of this legislation.”

Wooden, 95, was visibly moved by the thunderous applause he received after addressing the audience. He said thoughts of his late wife, Nelli, entered his mind because the two were married in Indianapolis.

He also remembered all the student-athletes he had the chance to influence in his 29 years of coaching at the collegiate level and 11 years in high school.

“I like to feel that I was a teacher,” Wooden said. “I was more concerned about the advancement of my students in life rather than just their basketball life.”

Bayh received his Ford Award on a day the Division I membership held an override vote about increasing the number of scholarships in the women’s sports of gymnastics, volleyball, track and field, and soccer. Soccer was the only one to survive the override vote.

Bayh still champions the cause of escalating opportunities for women.

“I would like to see everyone have a chance to play,” he said. “Women don’t have an equal chance to get scholarships, and thus they don’t have an equal chance at an education.”

Bayh, who turns 78 on January 22, began his political career serving in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1954 to 1962. He then won a U.S. Senate seat where he served from 1962 through 1980.

He is the only lawmaker since the founding fathers to author two amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The 25th Amendment on presidential and vice presidential succession and the 26th Amendment that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 were penned by him.

Bayh also co-authored the Bayh-Dole Act, which revitalized the nation’s patent system, and he was the primary architect of the Juvenile Justice Act, which mandates the separation of juvenile offenders from adult prisoners.

He also served as a member of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, a program designed to increase mutual understanding among U.S. citizens and people from other countries.

Wooden also advocated equality. In 1946, one of his teams was invited to play in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) tournament, but Wooden refused the invite because his lone African-American student-athlete wouldn’t be allowed to compete. The NAIA changed its policy the next season, and one of Wooden’s student-athletes became the first African-American to play in the tournament.

His legendary status in the basketball community was solidified after leading the University of California, Los Angeles, to 10 national championships, including seven consecutively from 1967 to 1973. Four of his teams went undefeated.

He also is known for his coaching philosophy, “The Pyramid of Success,” a concept based on the idea that faith and patience lead to success.

Both honorees are proud of the way intercollegiate athletics has been governed through the NCAA’s first 100 years.

“You are not going to get everyone to agree with everything you do, but no one can do that,” Wooden said. “Without the NCAA, it would be a mess. When sports are put in the proper place, it means a great deal. Education must be first.”

Bayh added: “I believe the NCAA, more than any other institution, demands equality and justice in the way our teams are structured. Without it, I don’t think we would’ve had the movement toward the implementation of Title IX.”