Tech men's basketball team earns first OVC Team Sportsmanship Award
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – For the first time since its inception, the Tennessee Tech men’s basketball program was named the winner of the Ohio Valley Conference’s Team Sportsmanship Award, earning the 2024-25 honor as announced by the league Monday morning.
By TTU Sports Information and OVC Media Relations
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – For the first time since its inception, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball program was named the winner of the Ohio Valley Conference's Team Sportsmanship Award, earning the 2024-25 honor as announced by the league Monday morning.
The 2024-25 school year marks the 20th year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded.
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators, and fans.
"Without sportsmanship, there are truly no meaningful victories," said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner. "The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride, for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor, other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents, and value fair play. That is quite a compliment, as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life."
Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach, and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.
In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind "Sportsmanship Statement," a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct, and respect for one's opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.
Photo by TTU Sports Information
