June 27, 2006
Cross Country
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAY NAMED CHARLOTTE WEST SCHOLAR-ATHLETE

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Indiana State University senior John Nay (Columbus, Ind./East HS) has been named the male recipient of the 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete Award. Nay and Wichita State’s Elizabeth Myers were selected by the MVC Faculty Athletics Representatives Committee. Recipients were chosen based on criteria including academic achievement, athletics excellence, and service and leadership.
   Nay arrived at ISU on a Presidential Scholarship and finished his collegiate career with a 4.0 grade point average majoring in mathematics with a chemistry minor. He was a four-year letterwinner on the cross country team and helped the Sycamores capture back-to-back conference championships in 2004 and 2005. Nay also competed for four years on the ISU track team, posting six top-five finishes during both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2006.
   The Columbus, Ind., native was one of just 38 to earn the MVC’s President Council Academic Excellence Award for 2005-06. He is a three-time member of the Verizon Scholar-Athlete Team at ISU and was selected to the Athletic Directors Honor Roll all four years.
   In addition to his academic achievements, Nay exhibited a strong record of community service and leadership at ISU. He recently organized a clean up for a medical clinic in Mississippi. As a member of ISU’s Mortar Board and Presidential Scholars’ Association, he played a key role in raising funds to provide relief for Hurricane Katrina victims last year.
   The first-ever recipient of the Honda Award of Merit in 1996 for outstanding achievement in women’s collegiate athletics, Dr. Charlotte West was a driving force for more than 40 years in the area of advancement of women’s sports.
   On June 30, 1998, she retired from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, after serving in the capacities of head coach, associate athletics director, interim athletics director and senior woman administrator during her 41 years with the Missouri Valley Conference-member institution. West coached five women’s sports from 1957-75 and, in 1982, was among the first group of women inducted into the SIUC Athletics Hall of Fame.
    During her tenure at SIUC, she became the first female member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and later served on the organization’s board of directors. West was also a president of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). In 1991, she was presented with the Administrator of the Year Award by the National Association of Collegiate
Women Administrators. West also received the Administrator of the Year Award, given by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.