INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) announced Friday that Southwest Baptist has been named the recipient of the GLVC James R. Spalding Overall Sportsmanship Award for the 2025-26 season. In addition, 30 student-athletes, one male and one female per school, will be named James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, while 27 teams – one per sport – were previously recognized after learning of their honor during their respective All-Conference process.
Each institution – through the head coach – names one award honoree in each sport sponsored. These individual sport honorees became candidates for the individual James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. Each institution then selects one male and one female student-athlete from its season-long list of honorees to be named as James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Individual Award winners.
Furthermore, during the initial nomination process, each institution’s coach ranks the top-three teams within the sport that best displayed good sportsmanship throughout the season. The team with the highest point total is then named that sport’s James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award winner. At the conclusion of the academic year, the institution that accumulated the highest point total across all sports is named the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Overall Award winner.
This accolade is the fifth overall and third straight for Southwest Baptist since it joined the league in 2019. SBU joins 11 other schools as award winners in the 17-year period the honor has been presented. Under the guidance of Director of Athletics Clark Sheehy, the Bearcats accumulated the most points during the 2025-26 season, featuring team sportsmanship wins in both men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, along with men’s cross country.
Behind SBU’s five team sportsmanship selections was William Jewell with four (men’s lacrosse, women’s basketball, softball, women’s volleyball) and Quincy (men’s and women’s tennis, STUNT) and Rockhurst (men’s and women’s swimming, women’s lacrosse) with three. Illinois Springfield, Lewis, and Missouri S&T had two teams each with selections that included women’s cross country and women’s soccer for UIS, men’s and women’s golf for Lewis, and football and men’s soccer for S&T. Drury (men’s wrestling), Grand Valley State (women’s wrestling), Lincoln (baseball), Jamestown (men’s volleyball), McKendree (men’s basketball), Newman (women’s bowling), and Truman State (women’s tennis) earned the other honors.
The GLVC renamed its annual sportsmanship award in 2016 after Spalding, who is referenced as one of the league’s two “Founding Fathers” and for his longtime service at Bellarmine. Spalding was first a basketball student-athlete at Bellarmine, who later returned to serve his alma mater 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.
A complete list of team winners follows below. Individual winners for each gender from all 15 league institutions will be announced at a later date.
2025-26 GLVC JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP TEAM AWARD WINNERS
| Baseball: Lincoln |
Women’s Basketball: William Jewell |
| Men’s Basketball: McKendree |
Women’s Bowling: Newman |
| Men’s Cross Country: Southwest Baptist |
Women’s Cross Country: Illinois Springfield |
| Football: Missouri S&T |
Women’s Golf: Lewis |
| Men’s Golf: Lewis |
Women’s Lacrosse: Rockhurst |
| Men’s Lacrosse: William Jewell |
Women’s Soccer: Illinois Springfield |
| Men’s Soccer: Missouri S&T |
Softball: William Jewell
STUNT: Quincy |
| Men’s Swimming & Diving: Rockhurst |
Women’s Swimming & Diving: Rockhurst |
| Men’s Tennis: Quincy |
Women’s Tennis: Quincy |
| Men’s Indoor Track & Field: Southwest Baptist |
Women’s Indoor Track & Field: Southwest Baptist |
| Men’s Outdoor Track & Field: Southwest Baptist |
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field: Southwest Baptist |
Men’s Volleyball: Jamestown
Men’s Wrestling: Drury |
Women’s Volleyball: William Jewell
Women’s Wrestling: Grand Valley State |
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