USBWA Most Courageous Award

The USBWA Most Courageous Awards are two annual basketball awards given by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) to figures associated with college basketball who, according to the organization, have "demonstrated extraordinary courage reflecting honor on the sport of amateur basketball."[1] Since 2012, the women's version of the award has been named the Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award in honor of the legendary Tennessee women's coach who received the award that year.[2]

USBWA Most Courageous Award
Given for	Individuals associated with men's and women's college basketball who have demonstrated extraordinary courage in life
Country	United States
Presented by	United States Basketball Writers Association
History
First award	1978
Most recent	Men's: Sam Toney, New Jersey City Women's: Lauren Cox, Baylor & Whitney Cox, Lubbock Christian
Website	Official site

History and selection

The award was first presented in 1978, and was not initially restricted exclusively to college basketball, although every winner since 1980 has been associated with the college game in some manner. Through 2009, a single award was presented; starting in 2010, separate awards have been given for men's and women's college basketball. More than one individual can receive an award, with the most recent example being in 2020, when the women's award was presented to sisters Lauren and Whitney Cox, respectively players at Baylor and Lubbock Christian. Traditionally, the winners receive their awards at the men's or women's Final Four (as applicable), although the awards can be presented earlier as circumstances dictate. The most notable exception was when the 2015 Summitt Award was presented to Lauren Hill at halftime of her first college game in November 2014, presumably so she would receive the award while alive (at the time, she was not expected to survive until the 2015 Final Four).[2]

Most honorees have been cited for courage as current or former college players. However, the list of recipients also includes coaches, the wife of a coach, two broadcasters, a referee, an athletic program staffer, the widow of a former player (recognized alongside her late husband), and two college basketball programs.

The award's bifurcation by sex or gender is not based on that of the recipient, but rather on whether the recipient was connected to the men's or women's game. In 2019, a woman received the men's award and a man received the women's award.

Winners

All affiliations listed were current at the time the award was presented. The "Notes" column indicates the situation that led the USBWA to present the award.

Single award (1978–2009)

All winners during this period were associated with men's basketball unless noted otherwise.

Year	Recipient	Affiliation	Role	Notes
1978	John Kratzer	William & Mary	Player	Cancer patient
1979	Bill Wanstrath	Batesville High School (Indiana)	Player	Played despite having only one arm
1980	Phil Scaffidi	Niagara	Player	Cancer patient
1981	Mark Alcorn	LSU	Player	Cancer patient
1982	John Flowers	Bowling Green	Player	Overcame "tremendous personal and physical problems"
1983	Ronnie Carr	Western Carolina	Player	Overcame serious complications of injuries in an auto accident
1984	Reggie Warford	Pittsburgh	Assistant coach	Rescued an elderly couple from a home fire
1985	Dennis Schlitt	Army	Player	Overcame a life-threatening illness
1986	Bob Wenzel	Jacksonville	Head coach	Recovered from emergency brain aneurysm surgery
1987	David Rivers	Notre Dame	Player	Recovered from serious injuries in an auto accident
1988	Steve Kerr	Arizona	Player	Overcame the murder of his father during his college career
1989	Landon Turner	Indiana	Former player	Played wheelchair basketball after being paralyzed in an auto accident
1990	Donald Taylor	UMass	Player	Went from homelessness to a Division I scholarship
1991	Eric Murdock	Providence	Player	Returned from an irregular heartbeat and many injuries
1992	Pete Pavia	N/A	Referee	Officiated college games while battling cancer for 13 years
1993	Jim Valvano	ESPN	Broadcaster and former coach (Iona, NC State)	Battled bone cancer
1994	Orlando Antigua	Pittsburgh	Player	Survived childhood in a difficult New York City neighborhood, including being shot in the head
1995	Nolan Richardson	Arkansas	Head coach	Overcame racial prejudice and the cancer death of his daughter during his career
1996	Cori Carson	Marymount (women's)	Player	Returned to play a year after receiving a liver transplant
1997	Wes Flanigan	Auburn	Player	Recovered from surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his arm
1998	Jacky Kabba	Seton Hall	Player	Went from war-torn Liberia to Division I basketball
1999	Eddie Shannon	Florida	Player	Played despite having only one eye since a middle school accident
2000	Nathan Binam	Oral Roberts	Player	Started despite losing the index finger of his shooting hand in an auto accident
2001	Entire program	Oklahoma State	Program	Dealt with the aftermath of a plane crash that killed 10 team members
2002	Jamel Bradley	South Carolina	Player	Played successfully despite 80% hearing loss
2003	Rayna DuBose	Virginia Tech (women's)	Former player	Survived an infection that led to the amputation of parts of all four limbs after her freshman season
2004	Trey Schwab	Marquette	Assistant coach	Coached despite suffering from a lung disease that eventually required a double lung transplant
2005	Grant Dykstra	Western Washington	Player	Played successfully despite having full use of only one arm
2006	Mike Sutton	Tennessee Tech	Head coach	Continued to coach despite Guillain–Barré syndrome
2007	Entire program	Duquesne	Program	Dealt with the aftermath of a summer 2006 shooting that left five players injured
2008	Josh Porter	LSU–Shreveport	Player	Returned from a major neck injury suffered during a November 2006 game
2009	Kelvin Davis	San Diego State	Player	Played while undergoing treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma

Men's award (2010–present)

Year	Recipient	Affiliation	Role	Notes
2010	Dave Rose	BYU	Head coach	Returned from a battle with pancreatic cancer
2011	Arsalan Kazemi	Rice	Player	First Iranian-born Division I player, despite often-troubled U.S.–Iran relations
2012	Bernard James[3]	Florida State	Player	Went from high school dropout to military veteran to Division I player
2013	Dick Kelley[4]	Boston College	Sports information director	Continued to work despite suffering from ALS
2014	Dau Jok[5] Dan Peters	Penn Akron	Player Director of basketball operations	Jok: Went from war-torn South Sudan to the Ivy League Peters: Worked while battling pancreatic cancer
2015	Austin Hatch[6]	Michigan	Player	Survivor of two plane crashes that killed the rest of his immediate family, the second of which left him in a coma for two months
2016	Andrew & Samantha Smith[7]	Butler	Former player and his widow	Battled what proved to be fatal non-Hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia, and publicized need for bone marrow donors
2017	Bronson Koenig[8]	Wisconsin	Player	Social activism surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline protests
2018	Sam Dowd[9]	Idaho State	Player	Left homeless at age 13 due to his parents' addictions; also one of the shortest Division I men's players at 5'7"/1.70 m
2019	Ericka Downey[10]	Northeastern State	Wife of coach	Donated a kidney to former Division I men's coach Billy Gillispie, whom she had never met before the surgery
2020	Sam Toney[11]	New Jersey City	Player	Went from a childhood spent in roughly 50 foster homes to an NCAA Division III All-American

Women's award (2010–present)

Year	Recipient	Affiliation	Role	Notes
2010	Tiffara Steward	Farmingdale State	Player	Believed to be the smallest college player ever (4'6"/1.37 m); survived premature birth, blind in one eye, more than 50% hearing loss, severe scoliosis
2011	Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir	Memphis	Player	Believed to be the first Division I women's player to wear Islamic coverings while playing
2012	Pat Summitt[3]	Tennessee	Head coach	Publicly announced her diagnosis with early-onset dementia, and continued to coach in the 2011–12 season
2013	Beckie Francis[4]	Oakland	Head coach	Publicly acknowledged being a victim of child sexual abuse by her father
2014	Kirsten Moore[5]	Westmont	Head coach	Dealt with the unexpected death of her husband shortly before giving birth
2015	Lauren Hill[2]	Mount St. Joseph	Player	Played while battling what proved to be a fatal brain tumor
2016	Danielle O'Banion[7]	Kent State	Head coach	Survivor of stage 2 lymphoma
2017	Angel Elderkin & Holly Rowe[12]	Appalachian State ESPN	Head coach Broadcaster	Elderkin: Continued to coach while undergoing treatment for stage 3 endometrial cancer Rowe: Continued to cover basketball while undergoing treatment for desmoplastic melanoma
2018	Avery Marz[13][14]	Saint Joseph's	Player	Sidelined two seasons after suffering a stroke as a freshman at Saint Joseph's in 2014; returned to active playing duty in 2017–18
2019	David Six[15]	Hampton	Head coach	Continued as head coach in 2018–19 despite suffering a stroke in the 2018 offseason
2020	Lauren & Whitney Cox[16]	Baylor & Lubbock Christian	Players	Sisters who played while dealing with type 1 diabetes, with the older Lauren playing at an All-American level

References

General

• Winners through 2011: "Most Courageous Award". United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved March 8, 2016.

Specific

1. "Most Courageous Award". United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
2. "Mount St. Joseph's Hill to Be Honored With Summitt Courage Award" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. October 23, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
3. O'Neil, Dana (March 2012). "Most Courageous honors go to Summitt, Florida State's James". The Tipoff. United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
4. "Francis, Kelley to Receive USBWA's Most Courageous Awards" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. February 21, 2013. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
5. "Three Chosen to Receive USBWA's Most Courageous Awards" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. February 20, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
6. "Michigan's Hatch to Receive USBWA's Most Courageous Award" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. February 16, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
7. "USBWA Names Most Courageous Winners" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. February 15, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
8. Walters, Mike (March 2017). "Koenig's social activism is Most Courageous". The Tipoff. United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
9. "Idaho State's Dowd Selected as Most Courageous Award Winner" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. February 19, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
10. Ryan, Shannon (January 2019). "Kidney donor Downey is Most Courageous". The Tipoff. United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
11. Karner, Matt (February 2020). "Toney's journey leads to Most Courageous Award". United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
12. "Elderkin, Rowe to Receive Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award" (Press release). United States Basketball Writers Association. December 29, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
13. "Marz Named 2018 Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award Recipient". sjuhawks.com. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
14. Greenberg, Mel (January 2018). "Most Courageous Marz recovers from stroke". The Tipoff. United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
15. Greenberg, Mel (March 2019). "Hampton's Six, ACC's Finch earn women's honors". The Tipoff. United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
16. Greenberg, Mel (February 2020). "Most Courageous Cox sisters battle Type 1 diabetes". United States Basketball Writers Association. Retrieved February 27, 2020.

External links

• Official site