College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America Team

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• CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame
• #CoSIDA2020 Convention Canceled due to COVID-19

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CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Class of 2020 Announced

With the cancelation of the 2020 CoSIDA Convention due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the four-member class will be honored next year at CoSIDA's 2021 Convention, June 13-16, at the Orlando World Center Marriott. 

by Laurie Bollig, CoSIDA Director of Membership Engagement

An Olympic gold medalist, a Pro Bowl quarterback, an All-American women’s basketball player and a former conference volleyball player of the year who works as a physicist for the Naval Research Laboratory highlight the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
 
Created in 1988, the Academic All-America® Hall of Fame recognizes former Academic All-Americas who received a college degree at least 10 years ago, have achieved lifetime success in their professional careers, and are committed to philanthropic causes.

The 2020 inductees into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame are:


Stacey Dales
University of Oklahoma, Class of 2002
Basketball

One of the most decorated basketball players in Big 12 Conference and University of Oklahoma history and current sports reporter, host and national correspondent for the NFL Network. Leading OU to three conference titles and its first NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance (and to the title game) in 2002, Dales was Oklahoma basketball’s first two-time All-American and two-time Big 12 Conference Player of the Year. Twice she earned Academic All-America honors (2001 and 2002) and was the Academic All-America women’s basketball team member of the year in 2002. A member of the Canadian Olympic team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she went on to play in the WNBA after graduating from Oklahoma in 2002 with a communications degree. She received the Distinguished Alumni award from OU’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2016.
 


Bruce Furniss 
University of Southern California, Class of 1979
Swimming (Honorary Inductee)

A 10-time world record-setting swimmer and 19-time American record holder who won two Olympic gold and two World Championship gold medals in his illustrious swimming career. Starring at USC, Furniss helped lead the Trojans to NCAA national championships in 1976 and 1977 as a six-time NCAA champion in the 200 freestyle and on relays. He was named to the Pac-12 Conference Men’s Swimming and Diving All-Century team and was the founding member of Swim with Mike – an annual fundraiser for scholarships for physically challenged athletes at USC. He has built a distinguished professional career in commercial real estate with a long-time commitment to philanthropic causes and community involvement. Furniss is an honorary inductee, a designation awarded to a former scholar-athlete whose collegiate career pre-dated the Academic All-America program in his/her particular sport.
  Michelle Johannes, Ph.D.
Mount Holyoke College, Class of 1993
Volleyball

A noted and award-winning computational physicist in the Materials Science and Technology Division at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for the past 17 years. Johannes was a three-time Academic All-America scholar-athlete and three-time all-conference volleyball star in the New England Women’s 8 Conference and the conference’s player of the year in 1992. The Phi Beta Kappa graduate also earned All-New England volleyball honors. She graduated magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke in 1993 with a degree in physics. She earned a master’s degree in physics from the University of California Davis in 1999 and a doctorate in computational physics from UC Davis in 2003. She has attained several fellowships and been awarded the Alan Berman Research Publication award five times.
 


Alex Smith
University of Utah, Class of 2004
Football

A collegiate quarterback sensation who was a Heisman Trophy finalist, the National Player of the Year by The Sporting News and Sports Illustrated and the CoSIDA football Academic All-America of the Year honoree in his final season (2004) of competition at Utah. He compiled a 21-1 record as a two-year starter for the Utes, throwing for more than 5,000 yards and 47 touchdowns. The top pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, Smith has gone on to an NFL career with three teams - the San Francisco 49ers (2005-12), Kansas City Chiefs (2013-17) and Washington Redskins (2018-present) – and is a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Smith started the Alex Smith Foundation in 2007 as a resource for foster teens. He currently is recovering from a 2018 career-altering compound leg fracture, facing multiple surgeries and life-threatening conditions as he continues to battle to return to the playing field. On April 29, Smith was announced as a inductee into the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame, with induction taking place September 11, 2020.
   

These four inductees will join the prestigious 154-member CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
 
Joining the Class of 2020 at next year’s CoSIDA Convention will be the 2020 Dick Enberg Award winner, Amy Perko. A former Wake Forest All-American and Academic All-America basketball standout, Perko was recognized for promoting the values of education and academics, hallmarks of the Enberg Award. She was announced as the Enberg Award recipient in February. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
 
With the cancelation of CoSIDA’s annual convention this June, the Class of 2020 will be honored next year at CoSIDA’s 2021 convention June 13-16 as part of the organization’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Orlando World Center Marriott. The CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame Class of 2021, which will be selected and named at the beginning of 2021, will be honored at the same time.

The CoSIDA convention is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and Affiliates Convention.

The June 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will feature ESPN's Rece Davis as emcee. The date and time for the 2021 Academic All-America Hall of Fame event will be determined in the near future. The event is free and open to all attendees of the CoSIDA and NACDA conventions.
 
"On behalf of the CoSIDA Board of Directors, we are proud to welcome this elite class of former student-athletes into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame,” noted Herb Vincent, Southeastern Conference Associate Commissioner and 2019-20 CoSIDA President. “Stacey Dales, Bruce Furniss, Dr. Michelle Johannes and Alex Smith have distinguished themselves in ways that have transcended their athletic and academic accomplishments to make a lasting impact on our world.
 
“We also congratulate Amy Perko, this year’s winner of the prestigious Dick Enberg Award for her longtime service to intercollegiate athletics. We look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of these dynamic leaders when we gather next summer at the 2021 CoSIDA Convention in Orlando.”