The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 American, Canadian, and Puerto Rican schools. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and universities in the United States and Canada and helps over 500,000 college student athletes who compete annually in college sports. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Laura Granville is a former American professional tennis player. During the two years she spent at Stanford University, she set the record for most consecutive singles victories with 58 and finished with an overall record of 93–3. Granville won the NCAA Championship in singles as well as the ITA Player of the Year in both 2000 and 2001.
Ogonna Nneka Nnamani is a physician, retired American indoor volleyball player and former member of the United States National and Olympic team. She was awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup in 2004 as the nation's top female athlete across all NCAA sports and is regarded as one of the best players in Stanford University's history with a career record of 2,450 kills, for which she entered the Stanford Hall of Fame in 2015.
Kimberley Yvette "Kim" Oden is a former USA National volleyball player. She was part of the United States women's national volleyball team.
Nicole Corriero is a Canadian 3-time All-American ice hockey forward and former captain of the Harvard Crimson women's ice hockey team.
Kimberly A. "Kim" Black is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.
Robert Brett Zatechka is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the New York Giants. He was born to Douglas and Jane Zatechka in 1971. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1995 NFL Draft out of the University of Nebraska. In college, he won both the Draddy Trophy and a Walter Byers Scholarship. He was the first Giant draft pick to sign after the 1995 draft.
Jenna Leigh Johnson is an American former competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.
The Walter Byers Scholar program is a scholarship program that recognizes the top male and female student-athlete in NCAA sports and that is awarded annually by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It is considered to be the NCAA's highest academic award. The NCAA initiated the Walter Byers Scholarship program in 1988 in recognition of the service of Walter Byers. The award is a postgraduate scholarship program designed to encourage excellence in academic performance by student-athletes. The recipients each year are the one male and one female student-athlete who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements, and who promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field of career service. Winners receive scholarships for postgraduate study.
Matthew Busbee was fourteen-time All-American swimmer, three-time NCAA 200-meter freestyle relay champion, two-time NCAA Championship teammember, who was selected as an NCAA Top VIII Award winner as one of the eight top NCAA student-athletes and the 2000 male Walter Byers Scholarship winner as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's top scholar-athlete. He was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-America honoree, and a three-time College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American.
Marie Roethlisberger, is a former gymnast who was a 1984 United States Olympic gymnastics alternate. She is almost completely deaf. She is the daughter of United States 1968 Olympic Gymnast Fred Roethlisberger and the sister of 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympic gymnast John Roethlisberger. She was selected as a 1991 NCAA Top VI Award winner as one of the six top NCAA student-athletes and the 1991 female Walter Byers Scholarship winner as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's top scholar-athlete.
Anne Golden Bersagel is an American long-distance runner and lawyer.
Dean Smith is a former winner of the Walter Byers Award as the National Collegiate Athletic Association's annual winner of its highest academic honor in recognition of being the nation's top scholar-athlete. He is an engineer specializing in chemical warfare agent detection. The University of Maine has renamed its top scholar-athlete award the M Club Dean Smith Award.
Marsha Harris was the female winner of the 1998 Walter Byers Award, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, in recognition of being the nation's top female scholar-athlete. She was a two-time Kodak Division III All-American who scored the winning basket for the New York University Violets women's basketball team in the 1997 NCAA Division III National Championship game resulting in a 72–70 victory over University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. As of 2005 she was the University Athletic Association's all-time leading scorer and she was in her third year as a surgical resident at the New York University School of Medicine.
Samuel "Calvin" Thigpen graduated from the University of Mississippi with Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Math in 1999. He served as associated student body president from 1997–1998. While ASB President he led the student charge to remove the confederate flag from home football games by passing a "stick ban" in the student senate. Thigpen was the male winner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, the 1999 Walter Byers Award, in recognition of being the nation's top male scholar-athlete. Thigpen became a Rhodes Scholar, and he returned to obtain is M.D. at University of Mississippi School of Medicine. In Medical School Thigpen was president of his medical school class and received the Medical Student of the Year award. He obtained his M.D. in 2005.
Sarah Dance was the female winner of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's highest academic honor, the 2005 Walter Byers Award, in recognition of being the nation's top female scholar-athlete. She was a 28-time All-American swimmer who helped lead Truman State University to four national championships.
The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are given the honorific "Academic All-American". Since 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-American recognition on male and female athletes in Divisions I, II, and III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as well as athletes in the NAIA, other U.S. four-year schools, two-year colleges, and Canadian universities, covering all championship sports. The award honors student-athletes who have performed well academically while regularly competing for their institution.
Shea Sydney Ralph is a former collegiate basketball player and current head coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores women's basketball team. She was previously an assistant coach at UConn from 2008 to 2021. Ralph was proficient in multiple sports, set state high school records in basketball, and earned multiple national player of the year awards in high school and college. She helped win a national championship as a player at the University of Connecticut in 2000 and won numerous individual awards, including the Sports Illustrated for Women Player of the Year and the Honda Sports Award for the best collegiate female athlete in basketball. She suffered five ACL injuries in her career, two of which led to sitting out the 1997–98 season. Ralph was drafted by the WNBA Utah Starzz, but recurring knee problems prevented her from embarking on a professional career. Ralph started her coaching career as an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 2003.
Marissa Irvin Gould is an American former tennis player and author. She reached her highest singles ranking on August 12, 2002, when she became No. 51 in the world. Her best result at a Grand Slam was the third round of the French Open, which she achieved three straight years from 2003 to 2005. Irvin competed in 22 Grand Slams during her 5-year career.
Felicia Lee is an American competition swimmer. She is currently on the U.S. National Team, and was a member of the American silver medal team in the 4x50-meter medley relay at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships. She previously competed for Stanford University as a collegiate swimmer, and was recognized as the top college female swimmer in the United States in 2014.
