Five outstanding former college student-athletes, including two physicians, a lawyer/author, a former NBA standout and a Nobel Prize winner, will be inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Nashville, Tenn. on Wednesday, July 5.
The class of 2006 includes:
Dr. Robert Burger (University of Notre Dame, class of 1981), a member of Notre Dames 1977 national championship team who is now an orthopedic surgeon in Cincinnati, Ohio;
Dr. Hilarie Cranmer (Hofstra University, class of 1988), a former standout basketball player for the Pride who is now involved in emergency medicine in Boston, as well as volunteering around the world.
Mike Gminski (Duke University, class of 1980), a 14-year NBA veteran who has chaired the National Board of Advisors for Duke Childrens Hospital.
Timothy Green (Syracuse University, class of 1986), a two-time first-team All-America football player who has gone on to distinguish himself in numerous fields, including as a lawyer, author and TV commentator.
Dr. Joseph Taylor (Haverford College, class of 1963), a former soccer player for the Fords who earned the 1993 Nobel Prize for Physics.
The five inductees will join 88 previous inductees since the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame held its first induction in 1988.
CoSIDA established the Hall of Fame to honor former college student-athletes who have excelled in their professions and made substantial contributions to their communities. To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, a candidate either had to be an Academic All-America team member who graduated at least 10 years ago, or fall into the honorary category, as was the case with Dr. Taylor.
Honorary inductees are eligible candidates who competed prior to the establishment of the Academic All-America program in their sport.
The class of 2006 is the ultimate example of the types of individuals who exemplify everything positive about the Academic All-America program and the Hall of Fame. The members of CoSIDA are proud to play a part in this tremendous event," said Joe Hernandez of Ball State University, the 2005-06 CoSIDA president.
The Hall of Fame is an offshoot of CoSIDAs core Academic All-America program, which is sponsored by ESPN the Magazine. CoSIDA recognizes over 800 athletes annually as Academic All-Americas, and also selects in excess of 2,000 annually for Academic All-District honors.
This years Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at the Nashville Renaissance Hotel on July 5 as the wrap-up event of CoSIDAs annual workshop. Serving as the master of ceremonies will be Barry Booker, a college basketball television analyst of Lincoln Financial Sports.
2006 ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE PROFILES
DR. ROBERT BURGER Still residing in his hometown of Cincinnati, Burger walked on as a freshman at Notre Dame and was a member of the Fighting Irishs 1977 national championship team that defeated previously unbeaten Texas, 38-10, in the 1978 Cotton Bowl.
Each of Burgers four seasons at Notre Dame culminated with a bowl appearance (Cotton Bowl again in 1979, Mirage Bowl in 1980 and the Sugar Bowl in 1981). By the time he was a junior, he had earned an athletic scholarship, and Burger was a starter at offensive guard as a senior.
A Magna Cum Laude graduate of Notre Dame (3.7 GPA as a Chemical Engineering/Preprofessional major), Burger was selected as a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-America in 1980, as well as a National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete. His list of accolades also included the prestigious National Dolly Cohen Award from the National Football Foundation as the countrys top scholar-athlete.
Burger went on to earn his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1985, graduating in the top third of his class. He is currently an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine physician for Beacon Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. Burger has been the team physician for the Cincinnati Reds, Xavier University and the College of Mt. St. Joseph and his former high school, LaSalle.
DR. HILARIE CRANMER Now a resident of the Roxbury section of Boston after growing up in Astoria, N.Y, Cranmer was a two-time Academic All-America while playing basketball at Hofstra University during the late eighties. She earned All-East Coast Conference honors three times, including first-team accolades as a senior, and was an honorable mention All-America as a sophomore.
Cranmer currently ranks fifth on Hofstras all-time scoring list with 1,548 points, and is the schools fourth all-time leading rebounder with 776. After averaging over 14 points and seven rebounds per game over her 110-game career, she played a year of varsity volleyball while finishing her five-year engineering degree.
Cranmer went on to earn her medical degree from Washington University in 1996, and a masters degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2004. She played a year of professional basketball in Austria, and has worked as a doctor for brief periods in Kosovo, Tanzania and Malawi.
Currently an attending physician with Brigham and Womens Hospital and a clinical instructor at the Harvard Medical School, Cranmer has volunteered in a number of disaster relief efforts, including following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Tsunami in Indonesia. Shes also been involved in programs to deliver health care and training in the developing world.
MICHAEL GMINSKI The CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame includes a number of talented former NBA post players, a group that includes Bill Walton, Jack Sikma and Tom McMillan, and that number will grow by one with the addition of Gminski.
A three-time first-team Academic All-America and a two-time All-America on the court, Gminski had an outstanding career at Duke, which retired his number 43 prior to his final career home game. Hes one of only two players in ACC history to first first-team Academic All-America kudos three times, an honor he shares with McMillan. Gminski, the 1979 ACC Player of the Year, is fourth on the schools all-time scoring list (2,323 points) and averaged a double-double for his career (19 points, 10.1 rebounds).
A number seven pick by the New Jersey Nets in the 1980 NBA draft, Gminski went on to play 14 NBA seasons, with the Nets, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Milwaukee. He reached the playoffs eight times and finished his career with 10,953 points and 6,490 rebounds in 938 games. His .843 lifetime free throw percentage was one of the best ever for an NBA center.
A Monroe, Conn. native who has called Charlotte, N.C. home for the last 14 years, Gminski has been very involved with the Duke Childrens Hospital the last eight years, serving as the Chair of their National Board of Advisors. Under his direction, theyve raised over 38 million dollars to build a new facility in Durham, N.C.
TIMOTHY GREEN Lawyer, professional football player, best-selling author, TV commentator. Those are just a few areas where Green has found success since graduating from Syracuse University two decades ago as a Rhodes Scholar candidate. The English major was the co-Valedictorian and the Rossman Scholar for Humanities.
Greens collegiate career saw him earn both Academic All-America and All-America honors twice, as well as ECAC Player of the Year kudos in 1985. He was the Oranges captain and MVP as a senior after being the co-captain and co-MVP as a junior. Green was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons, and a participant in both the Hula Bowl and Senior Bowl.
Green went on to play eight years in the NFL with the Falcons while earning his law degree from Syracuse. Called the Renaissance Man of Sports by both Sports Illustrated and the Los Angeles Times, he has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Green, a lawyer with Hiscock Barclay, has been an NFL commentator for Fox Sports and National Public Radio, and ABCs Good Morning America legal contributor. In addition, he has published 11 books, including The Fifth Angel and The Fourth Perimeter. Green has been a spokesman for the Boys and Girls Club Touchdown Club and Special Olympics, and has helped coordinate the Childrens Foundation of Central New York annual NFL fundraiser to benefit the new Central New York Childrens Hospital at University.
DR. JOSEPH TAYLOR The much-honored Taylor achieved the pinnacle of his professional career in 1993 when he and co-researcher Russell Hulse received the Nobel Prize in physics in recognition of their research with pulsar gravity waves. Their research helped confirm the veracity of Einsteins General Theory of Relativity.
Before Taylor graduated from Haverford College in 1963, he distinguished himself on the soccer pitch. Playing for former 1956 U.S. Olympic Coach Jimmy Mills, he served as co-captain and earned second-team All-conference accolades. He was the fourth generation of his family to have competed in athletics at Haverford, a run that began with his great-grandfather H. Gardiner Taylor in 1876.
Taylor went on to earn his Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard in 1968, and has also received honorary doctorates of science from the University of Chicago (1985) and the University of Massachusetts (1994). He served as the Dean of Faculty at Princeton University from 1997 to 2003, and has been a professor at Princeton since 1980. Since 1986, Taylor has been the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics.
Taylor, who was raised on the family farm in Cinnaminson Township, N.J., is an active member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker), and has delivered public addresses on spirituality and his work as a scientist.
CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA HALL OF FAME MEMBERS
Class of 2006 (to be inducted July 5)
Dr. Robert Burger, Notre Dame 81
Dr. Hilarie Cranmer, Hofstra 88
Michael Gminski, Duke 80
Timothy Green, Syracuse 86
Dr. Joseph H. Taylor, Haverford 63*
Class of 2005
Cormac Carney, UCLA 83
Ken Dryden, Cornell 69*
Dr. Claudia Henemyre Harris, Western Maryland 92
John Paxson, Notre Dame 83
Tracy Warren, Trenton State 87
Class of 2004
Terry Hoage, Georgia '84
Dave Rimington, Nebraska '83
Rolf Benirschke, UC Davis '77*
Dylann Duncan Ceriani, Brigham Young '88
Gill Beck, Appalachian State '78
Class of 2003
Kip Corrington, Texas A&M 87
Chris Howard, Air Force 91
Donna Lopiano, SCSU 68*
Kim Mulkey-Robertson, La Tech 84
Steve Young, BYU 84
Class of 2002
Richard Balzhiser, Michigan 52
Susan Cassidy, Molloy College 86
Raymond Shafer, Allegheny 38*
John Stockton, Gonzaga 84
Susan Walsh, UNC 84
Class of 2001
Lynn Barry, William & Mary 81
Cris Collinsworth, Florida 81
Gary Hall, Sr., Indiana*
John Hall, Vanderbilt 55
Jennifer Trosper, M.I.T. 91
Class of 2000
Danny Ainge, BYU 92
Regina Cavanaugh Murphy, Rice 87
Oliver Luck, WVU 82
Pablo Morales, Stanford 87
Sherwood Rowland, Ohio Wesleyan 48*
Class of 1999
Val Ackerman, Virginia 81
John Fowler, Jr., UCLA 78
Chad Hennings, Air Force 88
Jeannie Henningsen, Buena Vista 87
Jolanda Jones, Houston 89
Class of 1998
Leigh Curl, UConn 85
Bernie Kosar, Miami 85
Marv Levy, Coe 50*
Jack Mildren, Oklahoma 72
Jack Sikma, Illinois Wesleyan 77
Class of 1997
Todd Blackledge, Penn State 83
Tracy Caulkins Stockwell, Florida 85
Dick Enberg, Central Michigan 57*
Tim Foley, Purdue 70
Ellen Mayer-Sabik, Cornell 84
Class of 1996
Wade Mitchell, Georgia Tech, 57
Ron Perry, Holy Cross, 80
Bob Thomas, Notre Dame, 74
Byron White, Colorado 38*
Carlton Young, Villanova 83
Class of 1995
Doug Collins, Illinois State 81
Bob Elliott, Arizona 77
Michelle Johnson, Air Force 81
Pat Richter, Wisconsin 64
Class of 1994
Anne Donovan, Old Dominion 83
Rich Mayo, Air Force 61
Lee Roy Selmon, Oklahoma 75
Bill Walton, UCLA 74
John Wooden, Purdue 32*
Class of 1993
Raymond Berry, SMU 55
Dave Casper, Notre Dame 74
Jim Grabowski, Illinois 66
Kermit Washington, American 73
Class of 1992
Alan Ameche, Wisconsin 55
Steve Eisenhauer, Navy 54
Randy Gradishar, Ohio State 74
Lynette Woodard, Kansas 81
Class of 1991
Terry Baker, Oregon State 63
Joe Holland, Cornell 78
David Joyner, Penn State 72
Brock Strom, Air Force 59
Class of 1990
Lester Jordan, SMU*
Steve Taylor, Delaware 78
Joe Theismann, Notre Dame 71
Howard Twilley, Tulsa 68
Jamaal Wilkes, UCLA 74
Class of 1989
Carlos Alvarez, Florida 72
Willie Bogan, Dartmouth 71
Steve Bramwell, Washington 67
Joe Romig, Colorado 63
Jim Swink, Texas Christian 57
John Wilson, Michigan State 53
Class of 1988
Bill Bradley, Princeton 65
Pete Dawkins, Army 59
Pat Haden, USC 75
Tom McMillen, Maryland 74
Donn Moomaw, UCLA 54
Merlin Olsen, Utah State 62
* Honorary inductee