Olympian Joey Cheek heads a notable lineup of athletes and administrators to be honored for exemplifying outstanding sportsmanship, citizenship, ethical conduct and community service during the eighth annual National Sportsmanship Awards June 10 in St. Louis.

During the awards banquet, the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance will recognize an athlete or administrator from each of its member organizations. The CTSA is the largest coalition of professional and amateur athletics organizations in the United States focused on character in sport. Its membership includes the NCAA, Major League Baseball, the NHL, the NBA, the WNBA, the NFHS and the NAIA among other groups.

This year’s ceremony features sportscaster Bob Costas in a keynote interview with Cheek, who earned a gold and a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. Cheek received the 2006 U.S. Olympic Committee’s Spirit Award.

Also during the evening, the NCAA will recognize its Sportsmanship Award winners Phil Barr of Bates College and Lauren Clary of Xavier University. Barr, a swimmer, returned to the pool for his senior season after being severely injured in a night club fire that made national news when more than 100 people died in the blaze. After being diagnosed with pneumonia two days before the conference championships, Barr swam the preliminary heat before relinquishing his position to cheer his team on in the finals.

Clary, a tennis student-athlete, won more than 80 percent of her matches in four years at the No. 1 singles position at Xavier. In the community, she was a four-year participant in the “Take Back the Night” rally to raise awareness against domestic violence, and she also volunteered regularly at a rape crisis and abuse center. In addition, she earned the 2004-05 Atlantic 10 Conference Sporting Award.

Bill Byrne, athletics director at Texas A&M University, College Station, also will be honored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics for his leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Byrne opened the doors of the Aggies’ athletics facilities to Tulane University athletics teams and administrators displaced by the storm and helped raise funds for the Green Wave athletics department.

Other honorees include Grant Hill with the NBA’s Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Braves’ John Smoltz and Isaac Bruce of the St. Louis Rams.

Statistician retires after two decades of numbers

When Rick Campbell joined the NCAA national office more than 20 years ago, there were just 80 staff members, and at the time he figured he would put in about 10 years or so before moving on.

But things change, and Campbell stuck around long enough to see quite a few changes at the national office. He recently retired after more than two decades of service as part of a national office staff that now approaches 400 individuals.

Originally from Seguin, Texas, Campbell began his professional career as a sportswriter in the Dallas area and also served as sports information director at Texas A&M University-Commerce and Sam Houston State University before finally joining the NCAA as a publications editor in March 1986.

Eight months later, Campbell replaced longtime staff member Steve Boda on the statistics staff and remained in that position until his retirement this April. Among Campbell’s duties was compiling and editing the Football Records Book, the largest of the NCAA’s records books. He also is credited with expanding the bowl records section to include stats that had never been compiled by the NCAA.

“Rick did an admirable job replacing Steve. In fact, between them, Steve and Rick handled Divisions I-A and I-AA records for about 40 years,” said NCAA Director of Statistics Jim Wright. “His contribution to football records is an achievement for which he can be very proud — and his efforts clearly honored the work begun by Steve.”

Reflecting on his tenure, Campbell said he most enjoyed the people with whom he worked at the national office.

“I really enjoyed my job and I really enjoyed the people,” he said. “It’s been fun.”