Their stories are familiar by now - Central Washington softball student-athlete Mallory Holtman helping an opposing team's injured player complete a home-run trot and the St. John Fisher baseball team conceding a game with NCAA tournament implications after the opposing team's head coach was hit in the head with a line drive.

Now these stories will be etched in history as Holtman and the St. John Fisher baseball program were selected as the 2008 NCAA Sportsmanship Award winners. The recipients were chosen from a pool of six finalists – a male and female winner representing all three divisions.

Recipients of the NCAA Sportsmanship Award, which honors student-athletes who have demonstrated one or more of the ideals of sportsmanship, including fairness, civility, honesty, unselfishness, respect and responsibility, through their actions in the competitive arena of intercollegiate athletics, are selected by the NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct. This is the ninth year for the honor.

While Holtman, St. John Fisher and the remaining four divisional winners are being appropriately recognized for their actions, each story also offers important lessons that will benefit all of intercollegiate athletics and the broader society.

'It's more about the relationships'

Holtman never expected her actions in an important match up against Western Oregon to be such a big deal. Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky's right knee gave out as she was doubling back to touch first base after missing it on a three-run home-run trot, the first homer of her career.

"She fell by first base and I heard her coach ask her if she could make it around the bases," recalled Holtman. "She was just shaking her head and really close to crying and in complete agony."

Thanks to a softball and baseball coaching class, Holtman knew she and teammate Liz Wallace could assist Tucholsky around the bases, allowing the home run to count. After confirming with officials that it was indeed OK to do so, that's what they did. Beyond the graciousness of the act, there was a lot riding on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest. Both teams were vying for their first NCAA Division II tournament berth.

In the end, it was Western Oregon 4, Central Washington 2. Mention of Holtman's role in the Tucholsky home run was buried paragraphs deep in Central Washington's recap. Little was said about it during the postgame dinner the senior took with her parents. The stands were hardly full and there was very little media on hand at the time. So imagine her surprise when the calls from the New York Times and ESPN rolled in.

"After that, it went a little crazy," said Holtman, who has, in spite of the heavy media attention, easily pinpointed some important takeaways from her experience.

"I don't remember the games I won, really," she said in reflecting on her high school and college athletics career. "It's more about the relationships you build. I want to be the player who is remembered not for how well I played, but for the kind of person I was."

'We don't have to give up being good human beings'

Perhaps the kind of person that St. John Fisher head coach Dan Pepicelli is accounts for the reason he admittedly struggles with all the recognition for something he describes as just the way things are done in college athletics.

"It was such an unfortunate situation that took place, and I think we did nothing more than react the way any other team would," said Pepicelli.

St. John Fisher, the defending Eastern College Athletic Conference champion, was trailing in the top of the final inning of the league tournament play-in game. The Cardinals' opponent, Oswego State, was batting and head coach Frank Paino was manning the third-base coaching box when he was drilled in the temple by a screaming line drive. Pepicelli was among those who immediately rushed to an unconscious Paino's aid.

Paino was transported to a local hospital (he went on to make a full recovery). Meanwhile, after conferring with his team, Pepicelli conceded the game to Oswego State, a move that didn't just end the game. It also ended St. John Fisher's season.

Oswego State hadn't traveled with an assistant coach. Nevertheless, with their coach in the hospital and suddenly under the leadership of Brian Stark, a little-used sophomore with coaching aspirations, the team rallied to win the ECAC Division III Upstate New York Tournament and a berth in the conference tournament.

Pepicelli said conceding the game wasn't a hard decision to make and he hasn't heard anyone within the program criticize the act. To do so, he said, would take away from Oswego State's accomplishment. "We give them so much credit for what they did."

The lesson, from Pepicelli's perspective, is that there is room to be 100 percent committed both to competing intensely and to being a good person.

"When I listen to people talk about it, they are always trying to trade this intense desire to win and compete," he said. "We are certainly as intense and committed as anybody but at the end of the day, I don't think it means we have to give up being good human beings."

Other awardees

In addition to Holtman and the St. John Fisher baseball team, the following were recipients of the NCAA Sportsmanship Awards:

• Division I female recipient – Latasha Jarrett, Hartford, track and field
• Division I male recipient – Peter French, Air Force, fencing
• Division II male recipient – Einar Often, Alaska Fairbanks, skiing
• Division III female recipient – Kristen Carter, Grove City, cross country