The Rhodes College Athletics Department is pleased to announce the establishment of the George Lapides Sportsmanship Award, which each year will honor a senior athlete who best exemplifies the highest level of sportsmanship. The award winner, who will be selected by the Rhodes director of athletics and the varsity coaches, will be named each spring at the Rhodes athletic banquet. A master plaque featuring a list of all George Lapides Sportsmanship Award winners will be prominently displayed in the Bryan Campus Life Center on campus.
Thanks to the generosity of more than 125 donors from across the country, the award will be permanently endowed and presented in perpetuity. The income from the endowment will be distributed to the Rhodes College general athletic budget on an annual basis.
Rhodes College fields 21 varsity sports and competes in the Southern Athletic Association in Division III of the NCAA. Over 525 student-athletes, 25% of the student body, compete in varsity sports at Rhodes.
About George Lapides
George Lapides has been an ambassador for Memphis sports for more than 55 years. During that time, he has served as the sports editor of the former Memphis Press-Scimitar, sports editor of WREG-TV News Channel 3, and hosted a sports radio talk show for 40-plus years. His first-hand knowledge of Memphis sports is unparalleled.
George Lapides has been a friend of Rhodes College and served as the school’s director of athletics in 1984. During his tenure at the Memphis Press Scimitar, he was a champion for the NCAA Division III model; in an editorial published in 1982 George wrote, “…a few pockets of purity do remain. In today’s structure it’s called Division III. That’s the classification of colleges where the football philosophy is not to win at any cost, where academic integrity would never be sacrificed for Saturday afternoon victories…”
For additional information please contact:
Jim Duncan
Director of Athletic Giving
Rhodes College – King Hall
2000 N. Parkway
Memphis, TN 38112
(901) 843-3919 or duncanjb@rhodes.edu