BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – On Friday the Ohio Valley Conference announced that Eastern Illinois University is the recipient of the 2009-10 Team Sportsmanship Award for football.
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 second award for the Eastern Illinois football program (EIU also won in 2006).
Eastern Illinois was 8-4 overall and 6-2 in the OVC this season on its way to its fifth OVC Championship and 13th FCS Playoff berth. Panther head coach Bob Spoo, the 2009 OVC Coach of the Year, is one of five finalists for the Liberty Mutual FCS Coach of the Year Award.
“This is an award voted on by the coaches so anytime you win an award selected by your colleagues it is a great honor,” said Spoo. “I share this award with my staff and the young men we have as players in the Eastern Illinois football program. I think it shows the respect we try to show our opponents on the field and the respect that they have for our players. We are truly honored.”
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.
