Walter Byers Scholarship - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Walter Byers Scholar (also known as Walter Byers Scholarship, and Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship) program is a scholarship program that recognizes the top male and female scholar-athlete in NCAA sports and that is awarded annually by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It is considered to be the NCAA's highest academic award. The NCAA initiated the Walter Byers Scholarship program in 1988 in recognition of the service of Walter Byers

Walter Byers

Walter Byers was the first executive director of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He served from 1951 to 1988. He also helped start the United States Basketball Writers Association in 1956...

. The award is a postgraduate scholarship program designed to encourage excellence in academic performance by student-athletes. The recipients each year are the one male and one female student-athlete who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements, and who promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field of career service. Winners receive scholarships for postgraduate study.

Details

, the stipend for each Byers Scholarship is $24,000 for an academic year. The scholarship amount is adjusted for the cost of living. The grant may be renewed for a second year based on academic progress. Financial need is not a factor in the granting of these scholarships. United States citizenship

United States nationality law

Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. The Immigration and Naturalization Act sets forth the legal requirements for the acquisition of, and divestiture from, citizenship of...

is not a required criterion to satisfy eligibility requirements. Awards from other sources will not disqualify an applicant, except that an awardee may not use more than one NCAA postgraduate scholarship. The Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship Program is separate and distinct from the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Program, which provides numerous annual awards with smaller stipends.

The five-person Walter Byers Scholarship Committee, established by the NCAA membership and appointed by the NCAA Divisions I, II and III Management Councils, administers the program. The committee membership is required to include at least one man and one woman, at least one member from each division and subdivision of Division I, and one member each from Division II and Division III.

Three universities, Barry University

Barry University

Barry University is a private, Catholic university, which was founded in 1940 in Miami Shores, Florida, a suburb north of Downtown Miami. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami....

, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a public research university located in the city of Lincoln in the U.S. state of Nebraska...

and the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

, have had two winners each. All multiple sport honorees have participated in both track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

and cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, except for 2002 winner, Kyle Eash, who was honored for track and field and football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

. Of the six football players, only one also won the Draddy Trophy

Draddy Trophy

The William V. Campbell trophy, formerly the Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy, is a trophy awarded by the National Football Foundation that is given to the American college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance...

as the top scholar-athlete college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

player; the Draddy has a stated objective of rewarding community service

Community service

Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....

as well as athletics and academics. Although basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

players were the first representatives of a sport to sweep the awards, track and field was the first sport to do so twice.

Among the most recognized for post-athletic career accomplishments are Randal Pinkett

Randal Pinkett

Randal D. Pinkett is a business consultant who in 2005 was the winner of season four of the reality television show, The Apprentice...

and Rob Pelinka

Rob Pelinka

Robert Todd Pelinka, Jr. is an American lawyer, National Basketball Association sports agent and former college basketball player from Lake Bluff, Illinois . He is best known as Kobe Bryant's agent and President and CEO of The Landmark Sports Agency, LLC...

. Of the winners the one most notable for having gone professional in his or her sport is National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

veteran Rob Zatechka

Rob Zatechka

Robert Brett Zatechka is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1995 NFL Draft out of the University of Nebraska. In college, he won both the Draddy Trophy and a Walter Byers Scholarship...

, who later went on to medical school

Medical school

A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...

.

Several of the winners have won other notable awards. The following are complete lists of dual winners of a selected set of notable awards:

Rhodes Scholar - Henderson, Thigpen, Pinkett
Top VIII Award
Today's Top VIII Award
The Today's Top VIII Award is given each year by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to honor eight outstanding senior student-athletes of the preceding calendar year. From 1973 through 1985, this award was known as the Today's Top V Award or the Top Five Award and was given to honor five...

- Black, Roethlisberger, Busbee, Carney
NCAA Woman of the Year Award
NCAA Woman of the Year Award
The NCAA Woman of the Year Award was created to honor a senior female student-athlete who has distinguished herself throughout her collegiate career in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Each year, ten finalists are selected from a larger pool of...

- Black, Bersagel

Winners

The historical winners are as follows:

Year	Male			Female
Year	Athlete	Sport	School	Athlete	Sport	School
1989	Richard Hall Richard Hall (basketball) Richard Hall was the inaugural male winner of the Walter Byers Award, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, in recognition of being the nation's top male scholar-athlete. He is now a partner at the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg in Indianapolis, Indiana.-Notes:...	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...	Ball State University Ball State University Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...	Regina Cavanagh	Track and field Track and field Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...	Rice University Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
1990	Dean Smith Dean Smith (engineer) Dean Smith is a former winner of the Walter Byers Award as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's annual winner of its highest academic honor in recognition of being the nation's top scholar-athlete. He is an engineer specializing in chemical warfare agent detection. The University of...	Basketball	University of Maine University of Maine The University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...	Linda Popovich	Volleyball Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...	Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...
1991	J. David Brown	Track and field Track and field Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area... Cross country Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...	University of Iowa University of Iowa The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...	Marie Roethlisberger Marie Roethlisberger Marie Roethlisberger is a former gymnast who was a 1984 United States Olympic gymnastics alternate. She happens to be almost completely deaf. She is the daughter of United States 1968 Olympic Gymnast Fred Roethlisberger and the sister of 1992 and 1996 Olympic gymnast John Roethlisberger...	Gymnastics Gymnastics Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...	University of Minnesota University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
1992	David Honea	Cross country	North Carolina State University North Carolina State University North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution...	Sigall Kassutto	Gymnastics	University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
1993	Rob Pelinka Rob Pelinka Robert Todd Pelinka, Jr. is an American lawyer, National Basketball Association sports agent and former college basketball player from Lake Bluff, Illinois . He is best known as Kobe Bryant's agent and President and CEO of The Landmark Sports Agency, LLC...	Basketball	University of Michigan University of Michigan The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...	Sheryl Klemme	Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...	Saint Joseph's College (Indiana) Saint Joseph's College, Indiana Saint Joseph's College is a coeducational, private, Catholic liberal arts college located in Rensselaer, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1889 by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood...
1994	Randal Pinkett Randal Pinkett Randal D. Pinkett is a business consultant who in 2005 was the winner of season four of the reality television show, The Apprentice...	Track and field	Rutgers University Rutgers University Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...	Christa Gannon Christa Gannon Christa Gannon was the female winner of the 1994 Walter Byers Award, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, in recognition of being the nation's top female scholar-athlete. She graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara...	Basketball	University of California, Santa Barbara University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
1995	Robert Zatechka	Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...	University of Nebraska–Lincoln University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a public research university located in the city of Lincoln in the U.S. state of Nebraska...	Carla Ainsworth	Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...	Kenyon College Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...
1996	Christopher Palmer	Football	St. John's University (Minnesota) College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University The College of Saint Benedict , for women, and Saint John's University , for men, are partnered liberal arts colleges respectively located in St. Joseph and Collegeville, Minnesota, USA. Students attend classes and activities together, and have access to the resources of both campuses...	Tracey Holmes	Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....	University of Kentucky University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
1997	Scott Keane	Track and field	University of Cincinnati University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....	Marya Morusiewicz	Volleyball	Barry University Barry University Barry University is a private, Catholic university, which was founded in 1940 in Miami Shores, Florida, a suburb north of Downtown Miami. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami....
1998	Robert "Brad" Gray	Football	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...	Marsha Harris Marsha Harris Marsha Harris was the female winner of the 1998 Walter Byers Award, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, in recognition of being the nation's top female scholar-athlete...	Basketball	New York University New York University New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
1999	Samuel "Calvin" Thigpen Calvin Thigpen Samuel "Calvin" Thigpen was the male winner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, the 1999 Walter Byers Award, in recognition of being the nation's top male scholar-athlete. Thigpen became a Rhodes Scholar, and he returned to obtain is M.D. at University of...	Track and field Cross country	University of Mississippi University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...	Gladys Ganiel	Track and field Cross country Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...	Providence College Providence College Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
2000	Matthew Busbee Matthew Busbee Matthew Busbee was fourteen-time All-American swimmer, three-time NCAA 200-meter freestyle relay champion, two-time NCAA Championship teammember, who was selected as a NCAA Top VIII Award winner as one of the eight top NCAA student-athletes and the 2000 male Walter Byers Scholarship winner as the...	Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...	Auburn University Auburn University Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...	Anna Hallbergson	Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...	Barry University
2001	Bradley Henderson Bradley Henderson Bradley James Henderson is a partner and managing director with the Boston Consulting Group and was the 2001 male winner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, the Walter Byers Award, in recognition of being the nation's top male scholar-athlete. He was also a...	Basketball	University of Chicago University of Chicago The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...	Kimberly Black	Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...	University of Georgia University of Georgia The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
2002	Kyle Eash	Football Track and field	Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is an independent undergraduate university located in Bloomington, Illinois. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856...	Claudia Veritas	Lacrosse Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...	Wellesley College
2003	McLain "Mac" Schneider	Football	University of North Dakota University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...	Natalie Halbach	Gymnastics	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
2004	Joaquin Zalacain	Tennis	University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras , also referred to as UPR-RP, is a public research university located on a campus in Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico...	Corrin Drakulich	Track and field	University of Georgia
2005	Matthew Gunn	Track and field Cross country	University of Arkansas University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...	Sarah Dance Sarah Dance Sarah Dance was the female winner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, the 2005 Walter Byers Award, in recognition of being the nation's top female scholar-athlete. She was a 21-time All-American swimmer who helped lead Truman State University to three national...	Swimming	Truman State University Truman State University Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in Missouri, United States and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. About 6,000 students attend Truman, pursuing degrees in 43 undergraduate and 9 Graduate programs. It is located in Kirksville in...
2006	Bryan Norrington	Track and field	Colorado College Colorado College The Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell...	Annie Bersagel	Track and field Cross country	Wake Forest University Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
2007	Dane Todd	Football	University of Nebraska–Lincoln University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a public research university located in the city of Lincoln in the U.S. state of Nebraska...	Katie Kingsbury	Tennis	Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
2008	Dylan Carney	Gymnastics	Stanford University Stanford University The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...	Brenna Burns	Track and field Cross country	Davidson College Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
2009	Craig Sheedy	Diving	University of Arizona University of Arizona The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...	Amy Massey	Soccer	University of Southern California University of Southern California The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
2010	Joshua Mahoney	Football	University of Northern Iowa University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa is a college located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. UNI offers more than 120 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities and Fine Arts, Natural Sciences, and Social and Behavioral sciences, and graduate college.UNI has...	Katherine Theisen	Track and field Cross country	University of St. Thomas University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) The University of St. Thomas is a private, Catholic, liberal arts, and archdiocesan university located in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States...
2011	J. David Gatz	Swimming	Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...	Jessica Pixlar	Track and field Cross country	Seattle Pacific University Seattle Pacific University Seattle Pacific University is a Christian university of the liberal arts, sciences and professions, located on the north slope of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, Washington, USA. It was founded in 1891 by the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary...

External links

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Details

Winners

See also

External links