INDIANAPOLIS – In honor of one of the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s “Founding Fathers” and the manner in which he represented the league as well as Bellarmine University, the GLVC announced Wednesday the renaming of its annual sportsmanship award as the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award.
In addition to the namesake honor, the nomination and selection criteria have also changed to further mirror the impact Spalding made on multiple sports at Bellarmine while also serving as an advocate for the sponsorship of women’s athletics.
“It is fitting that the spirit of Jim Spalding, a man of integrity, character and class, graces an award that is given throughout the academic year to both teams and student-athletes who show good sportsmanship and conduct themselves in a manner that honors his legacy,” said GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich. “Each day we are afforded the opportunity to mentor the leaders of tomorrow due in large part to the foundation Jim Spalding helped set nearly 40 years ago.”
Spalding served Bellarmine in several roles throughout his lifetime. A three-time Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference MVP, Spalding led the Knights’ basketball team to three state tournaments as a student-athlete. After receiving his bachelor's degree in biology in 1955, he earned a master's in education from the University of Kentucky, and then returned to his alma mater to coach. He served Bellarmine as assistant basketball coach (1957-66), head basketball coach (1966-71), men's cross country/track coach (1961-75), men's tennis coach (1961-62), and men's golf coach (1967-69), before being elevated to director of athletics (1971-94). During his tenure as AD, Spalding expanded Bellarmine’s participation in intercollegiate sports from four to 16 teams, and played a prominent role in both the formation of the GLVC and the sponsorship expansion of women’s athletics within the league. Long revered as one of the league’s pioneers, Spalding was inducted as a charter member of the GLVC Hall of Fame in 2001. He died in 2012 at the age of 79 following a lengthy illness.
Prior to today’s announcement, the GLVC Sportsmanship Award was presented to one team in each of the GLVC’s 20 sports, as well as one male and one female student-athlete at the end of the academic year who had distinguished themselves through demonstrated acts of sportsmanship and ethical behavior. The voting process had previously been coordinated through each institution’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) since the award’s inception prior to the 2007-08 academic season.
Effective immediately, each institution, through the head coach, shall name one sportsmanship award honoree in each sport sponsored. These individual sport honorees will also be candidates for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. Each institution will then select one male and one female student-athlete from its season-long list of honorees to be named as James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners. One letter of institutional recommendation must be submitted for each winner, showing how they have displayed exemplary conduct of fairness, graciousness, and respect toward teammates, opposing teams, coaches, and officials before, during, and after competition as a representative of the GLVC and their institution. The Conference office will then select one male and one female from the 32 winners as the GLVC nominees for the NCAA Sportsmanship Award. Furthermore, during the initial nomination process, each institution’s coach will rank the top three teams within the sport that best displayed good sportsmanship throughout the season. The team with the highest point total will be named that sport’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winner. At the conclusion of the academic year, the institution that accumulated the highest point total across all sports will be named the James R. Spalding Overall Sportsmanship Award winner.
Spalding now bears his name on the conference’s fourth namesake award. Former Saint Joseph’s College leader Richard F. Scharf, whom is often referenced as the league’s other “Founding Father,” has his likeness on the Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award, established in 1991 and given annually to the GLVC Male and Female Athlete of the Year.
The Conference’s two other namesake awards are the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award (est. 2001) and the Dr. Thomas Kearns Service Award (2011).
The 2016 James R. Spalding Overall Sportsmanship Award winner will be recognized at the Enterprise/GLVC Spring Awards Banquet at the Drury Plaza Hotel in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 24.