"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Monday, May 22, 2006

Steve Novak: Senior Athlete of the Year

Over the weekend, Marquettte graduate Steve Novak earned the 2006 Ralph H. Metcalfe Senior Outstanding Athlete Award at the MU Senior Athletic Awards Banquet. Women's soccer player Heather Goranson also received the award.

Per the MU press release:

A consummate winner, Novak helped lead Marquette's men's basketball program to 85 wins, four post season appearances and the 2003 Final Four during his four years. Following his freshman season he was named Conference USA Sixth Man and Freshman of the Year, and for the 2005-06 season he was one of just four unanimous first team All-Big East selections. Novak also earned national acclaim by being named one of the 22 finalists for John R. Wooden Award, college basketball's equivalent to the Heisman. He leaves the men's basketball program as one of only six players all-time to record 1,500 points and 500 rebounds.
Further congratulations are in order for Chris Grimm, Joe Chapman and Mike Kinsella -- 2006 graduates of Marquette University. Nice work, gentlemen. Kinsella will begin graduate studies at MU this fall while he completes his eligibility.

AND A BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE GRADUATING STUDENT MANAGERS -- Andy Klister and Matt Willis. These guys have thankless jobs, and put in an unbelieveable amount of time working for the program. Congratulations guys, and thanks for all of your hard work.

BTW, the namesake of the award that Novak won, Ralph Metcalfe, was an absolute giant of a man. A Marquette alum, Metcalfe was a world-class athlete who earned four Olympic medals highlighted by a silver medal in the 200 yard dash during the tension-filled 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Jesse Owens won the event.

Metcalfe shared the podium with Owens as a member of the gold medal winning 4x100 yard relay team. Metcalfe was even more successful after his athletic career was complete, highlighted by his successful bid for Congress in 1971 where he founded the Congressional Black Caucus.

If you don't know much about Ralph Metcalfe, please read his bio here on Wikipedia.

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