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The National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS) is an organization of colleges and universities that have agreed to help student athletes finish their decrees. NCAS was established in 1985 by Richard Lapchick at the Center for the Study of Sports in Society at Northeastern University. The NCAS National Office was relocated to Orlando, Florida on the campus of the University of Central Florida in 2001.
The mission of NCAS is to
"create a better society by focusing on educational attainment and using the power and appeal of sport to positively affect social change."
By joining the NCAS, a college or university agrees to bring back, tuition free, their own former student-athletes who competed in revenue and non-revenue producing sports and were unable to complete their degree requirements. In exchange, these former student-athletes agree to participate in school outreach and community service programs addressing social issues of America’s youth.
NCAS members are entitled to a variety of programs and services that center around leadership, education and community service. NCAS programs focus on topics ranging from diversity management training, gender violence prevention, alcohol abuse education, outreach, degree completion, and student-athlete recognition.
The NCAS provides an annual conference for members on social issues they face in their athletic departments and communities .
Past speakers have included Myles Brand, president, NCAA; Floyd Keith, executive director, Black Coaches Association; Joe Crowley, president, University of Nevada; Charlotte Westerhaus, vice president for diversity and inclusion, NCAA; Bill Curry, ESPN; and coaches Herman Boone and William Yoast, "Remember the Titans".
The NCAS Giant Steps Awards Banquet has taken place annually since 1988 in conjunction with National STUDENT-Athlete Day, Giant Steps Awards are awarded at the banquet.
In 1999, the NCAS Hall of Fame Ceremony was added to the Giant Steps Awards Banquet. Since then, Nancy Lieberman, Eddie Robinson, Dean Smith, Muhammad Ali, Lee Elder, Julius Erving, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson (posthumously), Richard DeVos, Thomas “Satch” Sanders, Colonel Lawrence Roberts and Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. have been inducted.
Richard E. Lapchick has served the NCAS as its executive director since its inception in 1985. Human rights activist, pioneer for racial equality, internationally recognized expert on sports issues, scholar and author Richard E. Lapchick is often described as “the racial conscience of sport.” Lapchick is a regular columnist for ESPN.com and The Sports Business Journal, and a regular contributor to the op-ed page of the Orlando Sentinel. He has written more than 450 articles and has given more than 2,600 public speeches. His 12th book, 100 Heroes: People in Sports Who Make This a Better World, was published by the NCAS in 2006.
Tom Kowalski has been the director of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports Midwest Regional Office and president of The Transit Group. [1]
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