April 2, 2004

How many of us can say that we gave nearly 60 hours of documented community service work last year? Now consider that it would work out to at least one afternoon a month, or over an hour per week? A group of dedicated FSU student-athletes have done that and what makes it most special is that they are far from alone.

Last Wednesday night, Florida State's student-athlete population did something truly unique. By unique I don't mean special to FSU, but rather one of those events that we have at FSU that, as far as we can tell, does not happen at any other school in the country. For the 10th year in a row, we hosted the Golden Nole Awards which is a night that celebrates the leadership and service component in the life of our student-athletes. What makes it truly unique is that entire process from start to finish is undertaken by the student-athletes themselves.

The Athletic Director's Cup for Service has become a very competitive award. FSU's student-services office charts the progress of our all our athletic teams which turn in community service hours that accumulate giving the data to determine which team gave the most during the year. The total community service hours given by a team is divided by the number of team members to give a score. The winner this year was the women's golf team which gave an average of 58.9 hours per student-athlete to community service over this past year alone. The team as a whole gave 615 hours back to young people and schools all over our area. While that figure is impressive, consider the fact that the women's cross country team finished second with 708 hours, the men's cross country team third with 406, women's swimming and diving had 362 hours and the women's basketball program managed 227 hours. All this while juggling the academic and athletic responsibilities that our unique to a student-athlete population.

Lauren Bradley is a 2004 Doc Fauls Award Winner for Overcoming Adversity

These are real hours given to groups like the Sickle Cell Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Tandem Health Care, the Dick Howser Center, Second Harvest food drive, America Reads, mission to South Africa, United Way, Crop Walk Against Hunger, Catholic Charities, ECHO, Red Ribbon Week, Special Olympics, and many, many hours spent in the classrooms and on the physical education fields at close to 100 elementary, middle and high schools in our area.

The banquet also featured the Golden Nole Awards, Doc Fauls Award, ACC Top Six For Service Awards, and the Seminole Impact Awards.

"This is indeed a great night for our department and college athletics in general," said Dave Hart, Director of Athletics at Florida State. "I always enjoy this tremendously because it is our student-athletes who put on the entire event. I also deeply appreciate the fact that we are honoring tonight student-athletes who have excelled off the playing field as well as on. You never read or hear enough about the tremendous efforts made every year by our student-athlete population. It really should make every FSU graduate and fan proud."

The Doc Fauls Award is named after the late Don Fauls who was the head trainer at FSU from 1954-1986. The award was established in 1998 to recognize the senior Seminole student-athlete that has overcome the most adversity to participate in athletics for Florida State University. The winner on the men's side was senior running back Greg Jones, and on the women's side was senior basketball player Lauren Bradley.

Greg Jones is a 2004 Doc Fauls Award Winner for Overcoming Adversity

The ACC Top Six for Service recipients were selected each month throughout the year for something unique that distinguished them as top performers in FSU's community service program. The primary criteria is a willingness to participate and a desire to serve despite time constraints. The selected students made significant contributions to the community and were positive ambassadors for the department. The winners announced on Wednesday were: Ganyiat Adeduntan, women's basketball; Antonio Martin, men's track and field; LaKendra McColumn, women's track and field; Cassie McLaughlin, women's volleyball; BillieAnne Gay, softball and Chris Rix, football.

The Seminole Impact Awards are presented to individuals, groups or teams who have distinguished themselves as having a strong commitment to community service and that commitment has created a positive impact in the community through their continued participation. In the past this award has been presented to entities which have either singularly done impressive amounts of service to the community, or have given birth to new community service programs, that will continue into the future. The winners for 2004 were Tonya Rasor (swimming and diving) and Garrett Johnson (track and field).

The Golden Nole Award is presented to the person on each team who has exhibited the ideals of intercollegiate athletics. Head coaches select these student-athletes by evaluating athletic and academic success as well as their contribution to service to the university and in the community. The winners for each sport where:

Men's Sports
Baseball: Aaron Cheesman
Basketball: Nate Johnson
Cross Country: Joep Tichelaar
Football: Allen Augustin
Golf: Brad Lusenhop
Swimming: Joel Roycik, Wickus Nienaber
Diving: Stuart Delarosa
Tennis: Chip Webb
Track and Field: Brian Dzingai, Rafeeq Curry

Women's Sports
Basketball: Lauren Bradley
Cross Country: Vicky Gill
Golf: Caroline Larsson, Katie Quinney
Soccer: Kristin Boyce, Amber Tollefson
Softball: Jessica van der Linden
Swimming: Emma Dutton
Diving: Tiffany Manning
Tennis: Michaela Moldovan
Track and Field: Tamara Campbell, Natalie Hughes, Lacy Janson
Volleyball: Ashley Meyer

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