By TTU Sports Information / OVC Media Relations
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech University is the recipient of the 2018-19 Ohio Valley Conference Team Sportsmanship Award for women's golf for the second straight year, the league office announced Friday.
The University of Tennessee at Martin took home the honor for the men's golf team for the second consecutive year as well.
"The women are honored to receive this award," Tech head coach Polk Brown said. "They really hold themselves to a high standard as far as how they act and how they represent Tennessee Tech on the golf course. For their peers, the other schools and student-athletes to recognize this, is pretty awesome to see. We're immensely proud of them for earning this honor for the second year in-a-row."
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 2018-19 school year marks the 14th year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. This marks the sixth-straight and seventh overall award for the UT Martin program (2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19) and the second-straight and sixth award for the Tennessee Tech program (2006-07, 2007-08, 2009-10, 2014-15, 2017-18, 2018-19).
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.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
