The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- February 1, 1999

Sportsmanship award to honor student-athletes

The NCAA Executive Committee recently approved the creation of an annual NCAA sportsmanship award.

Known as the NCAA Outstanding Sportsperson of the Year award, it will honor student-athletes who, through their actions in the competitive arena of intercollegiate athletics, have demonstrated one or more ideals of sport, including fairness, civility, honesty and value of respect and responsibility.

The award represents the first of several recommendations to be developed by the NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct to foster greater acceptance of the values of good sportsmanship and ethical behavior.

Institutions will be asked to nominate student-athletes who have committed specific, exemplary sportsmanship-like acts.

"We're looking for specific unselfish acts of sportsmanship that would exem-

plify the ideals of sport," said committee liaison Ronald J. Stratten, NCAA vice-president for education services.

"The problem, as the committee sees it, is that right now we don't have many models of good sportsmanship being brought to our attention," Stratten said. "It (good sportsmanship) is expected from our student-athletes, but we rarely give it the praise it deserves.

"Our student-athletes are acting like good sports a lot of the time, but that's not what receives attention. What gets the attention (in the media) are acts of taunting, fights and showmanship. We wanted to draw more attention to acts of good sportsmanship and draw attention to the student-athletes who are good sports. We need athletes, administrators and fans to expect good sportsmanship as a strength of the game, not a weakness."

Nominations are due February 26, and institutions will be notified about the winners by April 16.

This year, institutions may nominate as many individuals as they wish for the overall award. In subsequent years, institutions may nominate only one male and one female.

Also, this year the NCAA will select two winners overall, one male and one female. In subsequent years, there will be two winners (one of each gender) selected in each NCAA division.

Institutional winners will receive accolades as well. "All those who are nominated by their institutions will receive certificates from the NCAA recognizing their acts," Stratten said.

Individuals must be enrolled as of September 1998, be a member of an intercollegiate athletics team during the 1998-99 academic year and be in good academic standing to be nominated.

Institutional nominees will be selected with the input of campus student-athlete advisory committees. "We are expecting and looking for strong student-athlete participation in identifying the nominees," Stratten said.

The winners will be invited to attend the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance (CTSA) Summit and an awards luncheon June 29, 1999, in Washington D.C. The summit, "Sports Culture in the New Millennium," is sponsored by USA Today and at the Freedom Forum.

All of the organizations that participate in the CTSA will present their annual sportsmanship award at this summit as well. The CTSA is a national alliance of collegiate, Olympic and professional sports organizations committed to the improvement of citizenship and sportsmanship of athletes, coaches, officials, administrators and fans.

The participating members of CTSA are the National Federation of State High School Associations, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Junior College Athletic Association, the National Basketball Association, the NCAA, the Women's National Basketball Association, the United States Olympic Committee, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the National Hockey League.