Tulane's Dickson Honored by National Football Foundation
May 3, 2004 | General
May 3, 2004
NEW ORLEANS - Tulane Director of Athletics Rick Dickson has been named the recipient of the 2004 Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (NFF), chairman Jon F. Hanson of the NFF announced Monday.
Dickson, who is completing his fourth year as Tulane's Director of Athletics, was honored for his efforts last spring to preserve Tulane's Division I-A athletics tradition, including its football program, during a review by the Tulane Board. During the review, which concluded last spring with a unanimous resolution re-affirming the institution's NCAA Division I-A status, options of dropping the athletics program to Division III and dropping the football program were considered.
"I will accept the award on behalf of everyone in the Tulane family - from the staff to the alumni to supporters throughout Louisiana and across the country - who stepped up with an overwhelming show of support for Tulane Athletics and our Division I-A football program last spring," Dickson said. "This is also a tribute to our student-athletes, in particular members of our football team, who hung in there with us through an uncertain time and now have a chance to continue to build our program."
The Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award is presented annually to bring national recognition to an individual whose efforts and activities in support of the Foundation and its goals have been local in nature. It also honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the game of football either to the manner in which it is played and coached or to the manner in which it's enjoyed by spectators.
"Rick Dickson's excellent ledger as an athletics director has been well-documented over the years," Hanson said. "However, his supreme leadership in guiding the Tulane Athletics program through its recent difficulties should be commended."
Tulane is the third stop in Dickson's 17-year career as an athletic director after previous stints at Washington State University and at his alma mater, the University of Tulsa. He came to Tulane in March of 2000 and has seen some of the most successful athletics seasons in school history, both on the field and in the classroom, during his tenure. Currently, he is leading a $65 million, five-year, multi-pronged fundraising effort, the Perpetual Wave Campaign, designed to build a permanent financial base for the Green Wave athletics program.
"When we recruited Rick from Washington State University in 2000, we knew we had a winner," said Tulane President Scott Cowen. "This honor and his extraordinary achievements at Tulane University attest to Rick's value as a leader in intercollegiate sports. He represents the kind of values and commitment to the student-athlete we cherish in higher education."
"Because of his leadership, tenacity and outright gut-wrenching work, Dickson saved Tulane University's Division I-A program," said James W. Wilson, a member of the Tulane Board. "If anyone is deserving of such an award, it's Rick Dickson."
Previous winners of the award, which was first presented in 1974, are Chris Schenkel (1987), Lindsey Nelson (1988), Bob Woodruff (1989), Don Canham (1991), Eddie Robinson (1992), Fred Jacoby (1995), Jack Lengyel (1997), Chuck Neinas (1999) and Thomas Hansen (2001).
"To be added to a list which includes those names is remarkable," Dickson said. "I am certainly honored to be selected and thank the National Football Foundation for this recognition."
The presentation of the award will be made at the Foundation's Annual Awards Luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2004. Later that evening, Dickson will be seated on the dais and recognized at the 47th Annual National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Awards Dinner.
More information on the award and the NFF can be found at www.footballfoundation.com.
-- Roll Wave! --
