NCAA Foundation ambassador now a U.S. ambassador

James T. Morris, longtime chair of the NCAA Foundation, has been nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as ambassador to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

Morris, chair of the IWC Resources Corp oration (the Indianapolis Water Company), will replace former Sen. George McGovern, who will be stepping down.

As ambassador, Morris will oversee the United States' involvement in the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization, both headquartered in Rome, Italy.

The World Food Program distributes food commodities to support development projects, long-term refugees and displaced persons, and it also organizes emergency food assistance in disaster situations.

The Food and Agriculture Organization programs seek to eliminate hunger by improving the production and distribution of food and also to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living.

"World hunger relief efforts will benefit from the same leadership, compassion and understanding that has marked Jim's service to Indiana," said Sen. Dick Lugar , senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations and Agriculture Committee. "He has been a leader in transforming the landscape of our state and has done so with commitment, grace and modesty."

Morris has been the top official for the IWC since 1989. From 1973 to 1989, he served the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment and was its president from 1984 to 1989.

Morris has served as chair of the NCAA Foundation since 1993.

Morris will continue to serve on the Foundation board, but his new duties in Rome will prevent him from serving as chair. A new chair for the Foundation will be appointed in the spring.

"Jim Morris is one of the most sincere, caring individuals I have ever known and his passion is helping people," said Marion B. Peavey, NCAA Foundation executive director. "He is especially motivated to assist those who are disadvantaged and, with his new responsibilities, will be in a position to help provide food to starving nations and individuals worldwide.

"All of us at the NCAA Foundation wish Jim and his wife Jackie much success in this important new venture."

Drug-testing news to be letter perfect

The National Center for Drug Free Sport has designed a new monthly newsletter specifically for athletics directors, athletic trainers and members of the media.

Called, the "Drug Free Sport Insight," the newsletter will include the latest information on drug testing, drug use and testing program administration in collegiate and professional sports. For more information on the newsletter, see www.drugfreesport.com.

Hope president finds Eighth gear after loss

James E. Bultman, president of Hope College, came out on the short end recently when the Flying Dutchmen football team lost its Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship game against rival Albion College.

Bultman and Albion President Peter T. Mitchell had agreed before the game that the losing president had to dress the part of the winning school's mascot.

When the Albion Britons downed the Flying Dutchmen, 42-11, Bultman agreed to wear a band uniform of the Albion British Eighth to work the following Monday. Had Albion lost, Mitchell would have had to wear a Dutch Boy outfit, complete with wooden shoes.

Bultman kept his word and performed his presidential duties with a flair as he wore the costume -- and accompanying head gear -- all day.

"Jim Bultman is a good friend and a fierce rival," said Mitchell. "The rivalry between Albion and Hope is intense, but always dignified and classy. This year, with so much on the line, we decided to raise the ante."

The loss against Albion snapped Hope's winning streak and dashed any chance of the Dutchmen getting a berth in the NCAA playoffs for a second consecutive year.

The Britons, who had not lost to Hope at home in two decades, were apparently motivated by Mitchell's pregame speech. Albion orchestrated a 77-yard touchdown pass on its first play of the game.

There would be no need for the Dutch Boy costume Bultman reportedly had stowed in his bag for Mitchell.

Maybe next year.

-- Compiled by Kay Hawes

Number crunching

Looking back

Soccer kick-offs

"This is it. You can feel no more. There is no more to feel," said Saint Louis University soccer player John Dueker after the Billikens dispatched the University of Bridgeport, 5-2, in the first Division I Men's Soccer Championship, played November 28, 1959, in Storrs, Connecticut.

Game accounts in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said it was a day "so powerfully wrought with wind and rain that the score was kept inside a plastic bag." It was the first year that soccer was a varsity sport at Saint Louis. The team, which was composed entirely of St. Louisans, had a budget of $200 and the players had to kick in for their shoes. Head coach Bob Guelker wasn't even paid, but he was the only person who actually owned a ball.

The Billikens entered the inaugural NCAA tournament shorthanded after the NCAA ruled two starters ineligible and because the leading scorer was lost to an injury in the regular-season finale. Guelker solved the situation by finding a Saint Louis student who was starring in a youth league but was working and had no time for the college practice routine. That player was Michael Shanahan, who would go on to become chairman of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues and chairman of Saint Louis' board of trustees. He ended up contributing goals in each of the last two victories.

Saint Louis would go on to win nine more Division I titles and still holds the record with 10.

The first Division I Women's Soccer Championship game was played November 21, 1982, and like Saint Louis on the men's side, the first champion has become the most prolific. The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, winner of 16 titles, won the first by a 2-0 count over the University of Central Florida. The 19-2 Tar Heels scored goals late in each half, the second by all-tournament-team member Amy Machin. North Carolina has advanced to every title game but one since then and had an all-time tournament record of 66-3 entering 2001.