INDIANAPOLIS - The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Keith Bailey and Deb DiMatteo the 2011 recipients of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction. Bailey, a 1965 graduate of Missouri S&T, and DiMatteo, a 1977 graduate of Lewis University, will be recognized by the GLVC at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Spring Awards Banquet in St. Louis on May 24.
Bailey is the retired Chairman, President and CEO of the Williams Companies and currently serves as the non-executive chair of Cloud Peak Energy. He has been active in numerous civic, industry and charitable organizations on both a local and national level including serving as chairman of the United Way of America’s Board of Directors. Bailey serves on the Board of Trustees for the University of Tulsa and Missouri S&T and is also on the boards of Apco Argentina, Aegis Markwest Energy Partners and Integrys Energy.
A native of Kansas City, Bailey received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from S&T in 1964 and later was awarded his Professional Master’s in Engineering and Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from the institution.
While a student-athlete for the Miners, Bailey started as a lineman for the football team and played four seasons in the basketball program. He was inducted into the S&T Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
He began his career at Continental Pipe Line Company and rose to manager of the company’s eastern operations. In 1973, he was hired by Williams Companies as an assistant to the vice president and nearly two decades later became president of the organization. He was named chairman and chief executive officer of the Tulsa-based company in 1994, the first person outside the Williams family to lead the company.
Bailey led Williams Companies through several energy-related acquisitions and oversaw the adoption of the company’s Core Values and Beliefs.
Bailey has provided numerous financial gifts to his alma mater that have transformed facilities, provided scholarships to scholar-athletes and funded a distinguished chair that brought a world-class mechanical engineering professor to Rolla.
He was among the first to make a gift of more than one million dollars to the S&T campus which assisted in the development of the Miners’ track facility. Bailey only agreed to have his name attached to Allgood-Bailey Sadium if his former coach was recognized first.
Bailey made the lead gift for the new Miner Dome and months later served as the Commencement speaker for the December 2010 graduation ceremony.
Bailey and his wife, Pat, have four married children and 11 grandchildren.
DiMatteo, an Associate Professor of Physical Education at College of DuPage, has dedicated her life to coaching athletes of all ages.
She completed stints in collegiate coaching at MacMurray College, Benedictine College and College of DuPage and retired from coaching after 26 seasons in 2004.
As a volleyball coach, she compiled an overall record of 510-138. DiMatteo’s teams earned 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament bids from 1981-93 and she took Benedictine to a runner-up finish in the NCAA Tournament in 1988.
She compiled a 660-270 overall record as a softball coach which included seven consecutive appearances in the NJCAA World Series and four National Championships (1998, 2000, 2001 and 2004). DiMatteo was named the NJCAA Softball Coach of the Year at DuPage in 2000, 2001 and 2004.
A member of the NJCAA Coaches, Benedictine and Lewis Hall of Fames, DiMatteo coached 97 All-Americans in volleyball and softball at Benedictine and DuPIage.
She founded Straight Down LTD, a sports marketing and management group devoted to youth volleyball competition and instruction and since 2001 has been a sponsor of Chicago’s Mayor Daley Holiday Sports Festival which provides volleyball competition to 3,000 athletes. DiMatteo serves as the Volleyball Chair for the event which attracts 75,000 fans to McCormick Place for a goodwill event. Funds generated from the Festival are given to four collegiate institutions to assist with sports team’s needs.
DiMatteo has been a member and officer of USA Volleyball in the Great Lakes Region since 1985 and has served 12 years on the active board of directors. She mentors junior volleyball clubs and has also developed a “work for tuition” program putting youth to work volunteering at events to earn tuition to play volleyball, an opportunity they otherwise would not be able to afford.
Additionally, DiMatteo is the Head Chairman of the Asics Junior National Championships which is an annual event hosted at Chicago’s Navy Pier that features 6,000 athletes from the United States and Puerto Rico.
A pioneer of Lewis women’s athletics teams in 1973, DiMatteo competed on the basketball, volleyball and track and field teams for the Flyers and spearheaded the formation of the first Flyers’ softball team in 1976. Following graduation, she obtained a master’s degree from Western Illinois University in 1978.
DiMatteo and husband George, the current head softball coach at Lewis, have three children, Jamie, Justin and Jonathan.
The Alumni Award of Distinction is named in remembrance of Dr. Charles Bertram. Dr. Bertram served as a professor and faculty athletic representative at the University of Southern Indiana and is a former president of the GLVC. He contributed a great deal of time, energy and effort to the league’s success and was instrumental in conference operations for many years.
In honor of Dr. Bertram, the Alumni Award of Distinction is presented to individuals that display academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character and leadership who have served their institutions with personal distinction since their graduation and who have displayed postgraduate public or community service and contributions to athletics at any level.
Past recipients of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award include Dr. Alex Lentsch, Dr. Sandra Magnus, Pat White, Dennis Rheinbold, Dr. David Porta, Dr. Steven Giles, Julie Fruendt, Dr. Jane Weaver, Jim Vargo, LuAnn Humphrey, Dr. Michael Bernier, Lois Taurman, and Larry Tucker.