BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech softball senior Claudia Harke has been awarded the prestigious Vernon Holland Scholarship Award, presented by the Ohio Valley Conference. The award, which is only presented occassionally, went to Harke and Kody Campbell of Southeast Missouri. Each receives a $1,000 scholarship toward their post-graduate education.

"Claudia has shown tremendous inititiative and has fittingly been rewarded with this scholarship," said Dr. Jeff Roberts, TTU Faculty Athletics Representative. "The fact that she has been accepted into the University of Wisconsin Law School speaks volumes to me. She has been an outstanding representative of the University and her team throughout her career."

Harke will earn her degree in Business Administration in May. She has maintained a 3.82 GPA, and has earned OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Athletic Director’s Honor Roll, and Dean’s List honors in each of her semester’s at Tech. Harke is currently pitching her senior season with Golden Eagle softball sqaud.

In the Fall, she will begin Law School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her career goal is to work in sport law.

The OVC Vernon Holland Scholarships promote the graduate-level studies of former OVC student-athletes who are interested in a career tied to sports.

Applicants must be former OVC student-athletes who have:

o Attained a bachelor’s degree from an OVC institution by the conclusion of the 2012-13 academic year;
o Attained a cumulative 3.00 or higher undergraduate grade point average;
o Been accepted for graduate school for the 2013-14 academic year; and
o Exhausted their athletic eligibility at an OVC institution. 

Award Namesake: Vernon Holland attended Tennessee State University from 1967-1971, lettering for the Tigers’ football teamin 1968 and 1969. An offensive tackle, Holland was an All-American in 1969 and 1970. In 1970, Holland helped lead the Tigers to an 11-0 record, including a 26-25 win over Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana-Lafayette) in the Grantland Rice Bowl and a Black College National Championship. Holland was drafted with the Fifteenth Pick in the First Round of the 1971 National Football League Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Holland played for Cincinnati from 1971-1979. He also played for the Detroit Lions and New York Giants in 1980 before his retirement that year. Holland passed away on April 20, 1998 at the age of 49.