BATON ROUGE — The first Cox Communications Academic Excellence Gala, a celebration of academic achievement in LSU Athletics, will be held Sunday, April 6, at 7 p.m. at the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes.
Nationally known recording artist Aaron Neville will provide musical entertainment and CBS Sports announcer Tim Brando will serve as master of ceremonies.
Over 180 current and 40 former student-athletes will be honored. Among the alumni being honored will be former Tiger Academic All-Americans, NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship recipients and SEC Boyd McWhorter Scholars. Current student-athletes will be honored for selection to the SEC Academic Honor Roll or the LSU Athletic Director’s Cup.
Student-athletes must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 for the past academic year or overall to be a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and must have a GPA of 3.0 or better for the past academic year to achieve AD Cup status.
“These athletes epitomize the spirit of this institution and they greatly deserve this recognition,” said LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert. “They are truly student-athletes and have excelled on the field as well as in the classroom.”
Chancellor Emmert will be joined by Roger Grooters, Executive Director of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes, and LSU System President William Jenkins as award presenters at the gala.
LSU Athletics Director Skip Bertman will present the Wally Pontiff Jr. Academic Excellence Award to four current LSU student-athletes. The award is named for the Tiger baseball star who died last summer of a heart abnormality. The parents of the late LSU baseball standout will be on hand for the inaugural award presentation.
“In past years we’ve had a banquet to celebrate the achievements of our student-athletes,” Grooters said, “but we’ve never had a gala of this magnitude or invited back the former award winners as we are doing this year. This promises to be an exciting event that is fitting for its significance.”
Bertman said the event will also celebrate the newly renovated Gym Armory that has been transformed into an academic facility for the LSU athletics program.
“With the opening of the new Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes, LSU has sent out the message loud and clear that academic excellence is our number one priority.
“We want everyone to realize that these young men and young women are students first and athletes second, and that in the game of life academic success typically has far more impact on one’s ability to earn a livelihood and to contribute to society.”
Cox Communications Vice President and General Manager Jacqui Vines says the Gala is right in line with what Cox hoped to promote through the Cox Communications Academic Center.
“We celebrate our student athletes for their athletic accomplishments, but in the long run the academic side is ultimately more important to the individual and to our community, and we need to celebrate that as well.”
Honorees will be coming from all over the United States and as far away as Sweden and Brazil. Among the former Tigers to be honored will be professional golfer Lisette Lee, swimmer Martin Nyberg and decathlete Mikael Olander. Some of the other former student-athletes in attendance include football stars Dr. Robert Dugas, Chad Loup, Dr. Soloman Graves, Dr. Joseph Albergamo and former baseball All-American Eddy Furniss.