TOWSON, Md. - Former Michigan State standout and ex-NBA veteran Steve Smith has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Dick Enberg Award and will receive the award at the College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA) workshop in San Antonio, Texas.
The presentation will take place during the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame induction ceremony on June 22.
Smith, who played 14 years in the NBA, will be the 13th individual to be honored since the award’s inception in 1997.
The Dick Enberg Award is annually presented to a person whose actions and commitment have furthered the meaning and reach of the Academic All-America® Teams Program and/or the student-athlete while promoting the values of education and academics.
The award was created to recognize Dick Enberg’s passion and support of the Academic All-America® program for more than 20 years, as well as his dedication to education for more than four decades.
“Steve Smith earned countless cheers for his outstanding collegiate and professional basketball career, but nothing speaks louder than his generous thank you to his alma mater, Michigan State University” Dick Enberg said. “By his multi-million dollar gift (the largest ever by an athlete to his University) to support the MSU Student-Athlete Learning Center, he set a lifetime standard of class for all athletes. I'm most proud that Steve Smith joins an impressive list of recipients of this award - men and women who share my sincere passion for academics and athletics.”
“Steve Smith is most-deserving of receiving the 2009 Enberg Award,” said Nick Joos of Baylor University, the 2008-09 CoSIDA president. “Not only did Steve enjoy an outstanding basketball career at Michigan State and later in the NBA, but his spirit of giving back has been well-documented over the years. His generous financial gift to his alma mater, Michigan State, will forever ensure the classroom success of Spartan student-athletes.”
Over the course of his playing career, Smith cemented his name as one of greats to play the game. He still ranks as the second all-time leading scorer in Michigan State history (2,263 pts.) and stands seventh in career assists (453) and career rebounds (704). As a junior and senior, Smith garnered first-team All-America honors.
Smith earned the reputation as one of the purest shooters over the course of his 14-season NBA career while playing for the Miami, Atlanta, Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans and Charlotte. During his career, he scored 13,430 points (14.3 ppg.) and an additional 1,338 points (14.9 ppg.) in the post-season. Smith helped to lead his teams to 12 total post-season appearances and was a member of the 2002-03 San Antonio Spurs team that captured the NBA championship. He appeared in the 1997-98 NBA All-Star game, a year in which he averaged 20.1 points per game. He also had a 24.8 scoring average in the playoffs.
Despite his many successes on the court, Smith has made even greater contributions to the communities where he has lived. He has been actively involved in working with and for inner city youth organizations in Michigan, Miami, Atlanta, Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans and Charlotte.
In 1997, Smith gave back to the institution that helped to shape him into the person he is today when he donated $2.5 million dollars to Michigan State. This figure stands as one of the largest single donations ever made by a professional athlete to an alma mater.
His donation helped construct the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center, named in honor of his late mother, Clara Bell Smith, who died of cancer during Smith’s rookie season in the NBA. The building, which was formally dedicated on September 12, 1998, remains a state of the art facility in the United States.
Along with the funding of the academic center, Smith has given a portion of the donation to be used in the backing the Steve Smith/Pershing High/MSU Scholarship for Academic Achievement. In 2001, he donated an additional $600,000 to fully endow the scholarship. The scholarship provides, on an annual basis, high-achieving students from Detroit Pershing High School the opportunity to attend Michigan State University. For his generosity, Pershing High School paid tribute to Smith, a 1987 graduate, by holding “Steve Smith Day” in September of 2001. The school’s gym was also renamed in his honor.
The Steve Smith Scholarship Fund is supported by additional money raised from Smith’s three annual charity golf outings. Together with the MSU Alumni Club of Mid-Michigan, the MSU Alumni Club of West Michigan and the MSU Detroit Area Development Council, approximately $500,000 has been raised to help support the Steve Smith Scholarship Fund, Michigan State and local charities in the Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids areas.
Smith’s generosity has been recognized not only by the various charities, organizations and institutions to which he donates, but by the NBA.
During the 1997-98 season, Smith received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award. He was also the recipient of the Joe Dumars Sportsmanship Award in 2002.
His good will and compassion for others placed Smith into an elite group of athletes when he was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in 2006.
DICK ENBERG AWARD WINNERS: 1997: Dick Enberg
1998: John Humenik
1999: Dean Smith
2000: Bill Russell
2001: Donna Shalala
2002: Alan Page
2003: Tom Osborne
2004: Ted Leland
2005: Father Theodore Hesburgh
2006: President Gerald R. Ford
2007: Pat Summitt
2008: Chuck Lee
2009: Steve Smith
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dan O’Connell, Towson University (
doconnell@towson.edu) (410) 704-3102
Academic All-America ® Vice-Chair For Publicity/Communications
Geoff Hassard, SUNY at Oneonta (
hassargj@oneonta.edu) (607) 436-2106
Academic All-America ® Coordinator of Publicity