MINUTES OF THE

WALTER BYERS POSTGRADUATE SCHOLARHIP COMMITTEE OF THE

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

The Hilton at Walt Disney World April 18-19, 1999

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Those in attendance were:

Carlyle Carter, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

David Diles, St. Bonaventure University

Ronald Koperski, Bradley University

Judith W. Rose, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Sara Abler, NCAA, recording secretary

Corey D. Bray, NCAA

Sunday, April 18

Earl Edwards, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, was unable to attend the meeting. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by the chair, Ms. Rose. Those in attendance introduced themselves after which Ms. Rose and Ms. Abler reviewed the purpose of the agenda for the meeting.

1. Interview Times and Order. At the conclusion of dinner the candidates drew for interview times and a drawing was held to determine if the male or the female candidates would interview first.

2. Review of Deferral Requests. The committee reviewed a request for a second deferral of the scholarship for 1995 Byers Scholar Robert Zatechka and 1998 Byers Scholar Brad Gray.

It was VOTED

“That the committee approves the deferral request from Robert Zatechka and Brad Gray.”

3. Review of Renewal Requests. The committee reviewed a request for a renewal of the scholarship for a second year for 1998 Byers Scholar Marsha Harris.

It was VOTED

“That the committee approves the renewal request for Marsha Harris.”

4. NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. The committee expressed an interest in securing $5,000 Postgraduate Scholarships for the four Byers finalists that are not selected as Byers Scholars in recognition of being selected as a Byers finalist. Ms. Abler was directed to work toward securing the funding needed to provide the additional scholarships.

5. Publicity for the Scholarship Program and the Winners. The committee expressed an interest in creating more publicity for the scholarship program and the recent awardees. Ms Abler was directed to investigate several options for increasing publicity for the scholarship and its awardees.

[Note: The meeting recessed at 8:30 p.m.]

Monday, April 19

The meeting was called to order at 8:00 a.m. by the chair, Ms. Rose. Ms. Abler and Ms. Rose reviewed the interview structure and the order of candidates to be interviewed.

8. Interview of Scholarship Finalists. The committee interviewed the six finalists for the Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship. The order for the interviews was as follows:

1. Aaron Harries, University of California, Los Angeles;

2. Eric Brands, Alma College;

3. Samuel “Calvin” Thigpen, University of Mississippi;

4. Rikke Pedersen, Northern Arizona University;

5. Katherine Pesek, University of Tennessee; and

6. Gladys Ganiel, Providence College.

9. Selection of Byers Scholars. After the interviews and deliberations, the committee selected Mr. Thigpen and Ms. Ganiel to be the 2000 Byers Scholarship recipients. The first alternate for the women will be Ms. Pedersen, and for the men will be Mr. Brands. The second alternates are Ms. Pesek and Mr. Harries. The committee noted the difficulty of the decision, and congratulated all of the finalists on their outstanding achievements during their collegiate careers.

10. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.

# # # # #

The National Collegiate Athletic Association

September 27, 2000 CB:kc