BRENTWOOD, Tenn. ? Austin Peay State University senior soccer player Adonia Bivins has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Ohio Valley Conference Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award. The award will be presented to her on June 1 in Nashville at the Conference's annual Honors Luncheon.
The award is given annually to an Ohio Valley Conference male or female student-athlete of junior or senior standing who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator Steve Hamilton. Criteria include significant athletics performance along with good sportsmanship and citizenship. The award is voted on by the Conference's athletics directors and sports information directors.
Hamilton competed on OVC Championship teams in each baseball, basketball and track while at Morehead State. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1958 and a master's degree also from Morehead Sate in 1963. He went on to have an 11-year major-league pitching career and coached in the minor leagues before returning to MSU in 1976 to become head baseball coach. He held that position for 13 years and compiled a 305-275 record while leading the Eagles to five divisional championships and two OVC titles. He was named Morehead State's Director of Athletics in July 1988 and served in that position until his death in 1997. As the A.D., Hamilton led the program to success on the field, in facilities and in the classroom. During his tenure, a weight room was built, an academic counselor for athletes was added, graduation rates of student-athletes improved and the University won the OVC Academic Achievement Banner four times. Hamilton is the only individual to play in the NCAA Basketball Championship, a Major League Baseball World Series (New York Yankees) and a National Basketball Association Championship Series (Minnesota Lakers).
Bivins, a defender/midfielder on the Lady Govs squad, was a three-year captain who was instrumental in her team's success, helping the young program (which began in 2002) flourish. She ranks first all-time in APSU history in assists (12), shots (160), games started (75) and minutes played (4,971), second in shots on goal (65) and games played (75), third in assists/game (0.16), fifth in total points (22) and seventh in points per game (0.29). She set the Austin Peay single-season record for assists in 2005 (6) and also holds the school mark for single-game shots (14). She was awarded Austin Peay's Female Joy Award, given to the department's most valuable senior athlete.
A psychology major from Knoxville, Tenn., Bivins also excelled in the classroom. She has already received Austin Peay's Female Scholar-Athlete Award and the Perkins Freeman/Governors Club Academic Achievement Award given to the graduating senior with the highest GPA (3.962). This spring she became the first APSU student-athlete to win the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and in the fall she was named a second-team ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-American, becoming the first APSU soccer player to earn that honor. She has also been named an OVC Scholar-Athlete award winner and is a two-time OVC Medal of Honor recipient.
Bivins is a member of the President's Emerging Leader's Program and is the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) after serving as the council's vice president as a sophomore. She is active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry, Psi Chi/Psychology Club and the Student Organizations Council. Her volunteer work spans from the Grace Community Church, the YMCA, the Hurricane Katrina Food Drive, Plant the Campus Red, Reading is Run, Rivers and Spires, Fantasy of Trees and Empty Stocking Fund, as well as working at community soccer clinics and taking a week-long mission trip to Mexico. She also served on the NCAA Certification Committee on Equity and Student-Athlete Well-Being. This past winter she completed a 100-hour internship with Clarksville's HOPE Pregnancy Center, which inspired her to pursue her postgraduate degree in Community Agency Counseling at the University of Memphis.
The Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award is being given for the ninth time in 2007. Austin Peay student-athletes have won the award five times, including in each of the past three years. Bivins is the first soccer player to win the award.
Other OVC student-athletes nominated for the award this year were Vincent Webb, Jr. (Eastern Illinois/football), Joe Oliver (Eastern Kentucky/baseball), Daniela Pappano (Jacksonville State/softball), Diana Zipp (Morehead State/volleyball), Christi Baron (Murray State/golf), Sharon Young (Samford/soccer), Lindsay Zeiler (Southeast Missouri/track and field), Carlos Jones (Tennessee State/football), Scott Stallings (Tennessee Tech/golf) and Taylor Brown (UT Martin/football).
