All-Time Team Sportsmanship Award Winners
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - On Wednesday the Ohio Valley Conference announced that Murray State University is the recipient of the 2009-10 Team Sportsmanship Award for men's basketball.
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans.
"Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories," said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner. "The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life."
The 2009-10 school year marks the fifth year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. This marks the first award for the Murray State men's basketball program.
Murray State won its 21st OVC regular season championship and 14th OVC tournament championship on its way to a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2009-10. The Racers topped No. 4 seed Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to No. 5 seed Butler in the second round. Murray State finished the year with 31 victories, the most in OVC history.
"Our team is honored to receive this award from our peers in the OVC," said Billy Kennedy, head basketball coach at Murray State. "It goes to show how our program is thought of and the character our team has shown throughout the season."
Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.
In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind "Sportsmanship Statement," a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.