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Homer Rice Award

The Homer Rice Award is presented annually to an athletics director with a distinguished career, who has made a significant impact on this profession and intercollegiate athletics. This award is presented in honor of Homer Rice, the Founder and first President of the Division 1A Athletic Directors Association.

  1. The nominee must have served as a Director of Athletics for at least ten years at Division 1A Institutions;
  2. He/She must have made significant and meaningful contributions to intercollegiate athletics;
  3. He/She must have been retired from a Division 1A Athletic Directors position for at least one year;
  4. The nomination must be from a current member of the Division 1A Athletic Directors Association as a result of a thorough and extensive process.

Congratulations to Mr. Mike Cleary, recipient of the 2011 Homer Rice Award

Mike Cleary

Mike Cleary is the only executive director in the history of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). He was named to the post in 1965. He has led the Association longer than any other current Division I conference commissioner or national association or coaching organization executive director.

Additionally, he is the president and primary fund administrator for the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation. Under Cleary, NACDA has risen from a 300 member organization to one whose membership currently numbers more than 6,100 athletics administrators and more than 1,600 institutions and/or organizations throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Before entering the field of intercollegiate athletics, Cleary served as the general manager of the Cleveland Pipers in the old American Basketball League under owner George Steinbrenner. While with the Pipers, Cleary hired John McLendon, the first black coach to head an American professional sports team. He also served as general manager of the Kansas City Steers of Abe Saperstein's ABL and Midwest scout for the New York Knicks.

Cleary will be just the eighth recipient of the honor in NACDA's Merit of Honor Award and NACDA also announced the will carry Cleary's name becoming the “Michael J. Cleary Merit of Honor Award.”

Cleary announced his retirement in January and will continue to serve as the director emeritus for three years.

Past Recipients of the Homer Rice Award

2011
Mike Cleary
NACDA
2010
John Toner
University of Connecticut
2009
Andy Geiger
The Ohio State University
2008
C.M. Newton
University of Kentucky
2007
Vince Dooley
University of Georgia
2005
John Swofford
UNC Chapel Hill
2004
Tom Butters
Duke University
2003
Jack Lengyel
US Naval Academy
2002
Dr. Gene Hooks
Wake Forest University
2001
Frank Windegger
Texas Christian University
2000
Jim Jones
Ohio State University