College Sports Information Directors of America

Download full release (PDF) with list of all-time CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame inductees

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A pair of former Academic All-America® football selections, Dr. James Kovach, ’78 of the University of Kentucky and Dewey Selmon, ’76 of the University of Oklahoma, join former Academic All-America® basketball standout Adonal Foyle, ’99 of Colgate University and Connecticut College rowing star Anita DeFrantz, ‘74 as this year’s inductees into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Hall of Fame®.

The four honorees will join 108 previous inductees as members of the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame®, which was created in 1988. They will be inducted at CoSIDA’s annual workshop in San Francisco, California on Tuesday, July 6 during the CoSIDA Hall of Fame Gala. At that awards dinner, the CoSIDA Hall of Fame Class of 2010 will be enshrined along with the Academic All-America Hall of Fame class. ESPN announcer Ron Franklin will serve as emcee at the event.

“The CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame® represents everything we all believe college athletics can be and the Class of 2010 certainly lives up to that standard,” said Justin Doherty of the University of Wisconsin, the 2009-10 CoSIDA President. “These four individuals were high achievers as student-athletes and continue to make a positive impact on society to this day. They each add something special to the Academic All-America Hall of Fame® and CoSIDA is very proud to recognize their extraordinary contributions.”

ADONAL FOYLE, Colgate '99 (Basketball)

A two-time Academic All-America® selection who earned first team honors in 1997 and second team notice in 1996, Adonal Foyle finished his career as the NCAA record holder with 492 blocked shots. A three-year starter for the Red Raiders, he averaged 20.4 points, 12.7 rebounds and 5.7 blocks per game before leaving school after his junior season for a career in the National Basketball Association.

As a junior, he enjoyed his finest season when he averaged 22.0 points per game. During his career at Colgate, he was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 1995 and the Patriot League Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997. Foyle was also a finalist for the John R. Wooden Player of the Year Award.

Foyle continued to work on his degree while playing in the NBA. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in History from Colgate in 1999, graduating magna cum laude.

As a junior in 1997, he was a Wooden Foundation Second Team All-America and earned numerous conference and national academic awards.

A 13-year veteran of the NBA, Foyle is currently a member of the Orlando Magic. He joined the Magic after playing his first ten seasons for the Golden State Warriors. In 733 professional games, he has 1,193 blocked shots, 3,461 rebounds and 2,989 points.

A winner of numerous Sporting News NCAA Community Assist Awards, he has been very active in the community, especially his native Caribbean home of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Foyle started Democracy Matters in 2001, and in 2006, he founded the Kerosene Lamp Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps empower children of the Eastern Caribbean as well as the United States to navigate life’s challenges including illiteracy and economic hardship.






Dr. JAMES KOVACH, Kentucky ’79 (Football)

An Academic All-America® selection in 1978, Dr. James Kovach was the first player in modern NCAA history to attend medical school while playing major college football.

A three-time All-Southeastern Conference linebacker at Kentucky, he set a school record with 521 career tackles that still stands.

A first team All-SEC honoree in 1978, Kovach helped the Wildcats win the 1976 SEC championship. Selected to play in the Hula Bowl following his senior season, Kovach earned an NCAA Top Five Award, an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship in 1979 and the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award in 1978.

After being drafted by the New Orleans Saints, he played seven seasons in the National Football League as a linebacker for the Saints and the San Francisco 49ers. He was the Saints’ leading tackler from 1981 to 1984 and was named as the Saints’ Most Valuable Player in 1983.

He continued to play in the NFL while attending medical school during the off-season.

Dr. Kovach earned his medical degree from Kentucky in 1984, and he earned a law degree from Stanford University in 1990. He is currently the President and Chief Operating Officer for the Buck Institute for Age Research, the only independent research institute dedicated to research on aging and age-associated disease.

Dr. Kovach has been active in both local and regional community services throughout his business career, with a focus in the area of education, health and aging. He has been active with the Marin County School-to-Career Partners, the NFL Retired Players Association, the Consortium for Translational Research in Advancing Imaging and Nanomedicine while serving as an adjunct professor at Dominican University of California. Dr. Kovach also serves on the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Aging Research and the North Bay Leadership Council.


DEWEY SELMON, Oklahoma ’76 (Football)

An Academic All-America® defensive lineman in 1974 and 1975, Dewey Selmon was a standout performer on back-to-back national championship teams at Oklahoma. A consensus All-American selection in 1975, he graduated from Oklahoma with a degree in Public Relations. Named as an All-Big Eight Conference defensive lineman twice, he recorded 188 unassisted tackles, 302 total tackles, 24 tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries in his career.

A second round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Selmon played five years in the National Football League. During his career, he started 65 of the 72 games in which he played. He also played briefly with the San Diego Chargers before retiring and founding Selmon Enterprises.

Dewey is joining his younger brother Lee Roy Selmon in the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame®. Lee Roy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.

Selmon has devoted his life to youth and to service. He has passed that tradition on to his children who are the founders of the Shine Foundation. Active in a number of community efforts, he chaired one of the local fund-raising campaigns that helped with the construction of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. He held the position of Norman Housing Authority commissioner and led fund-raising efforts for Norman’s Food and Shelter for Friends, a homeless shelter.

Selmon also has served as a United Way volunteer for a number of years, was a basketball coach at Community Christian School and served as a Sunday School teacher for a number of years. He also has been involved in fund-raising campaigns for the American Lung Association, the Ronald McDonald House, and the Children’s Miracle Network.

Since 2005, he has served on the Board of Directors for the Shine Foundation, a group started by his children that serves to meet the needs of people around the world.

The group has focused on war-torn areas of West Africa and Selmon has made several trips to that area to build a school for the orphanage that serves as home for the hundreds of children left without parents after years of conflict in that part of the world.



ANITA DeFRANTZ, Connecticut College, ’74

On an annual basis, the Academic All-America Hall of Fame® honors a worthy candidate whose college career preceded the Academic All-America® program in their particular sport. The eligible candidate’s academic and athletic achievements must meet minimum criteria for selection to the Academic All-America Hall of Fame®.

Former Connecticut College rowing star Anita DeFrantz is this year’s honorary inductee. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Philosophy in 1974. She also earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977 while training at the prestigious Vesper Board Club.

After graduation, DeFrantz was the team captain and a bronze medalist for the first U.S. Women’s Rowing team in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She competed on every national team from 1975 to 1980. DeFrantz was elected to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1986.

DeFrantz is the first African-American and the first American woman to serve on the IOC. DeFrantz is the chair of the IOC’s Women and Sport commission and the IOC Athletes’ Commission Election Committee. She also serves as a member of the IOC’s Juridical Commission, the Finance Commission and the Coordination Commission for London 2010 Olympic Games. DeFrantz is vice president of FISA, the International Rowing Federation and she was inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame on March 20, 2010 in Mystic Seaport.She also  is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Board of Directors.

DeFrantz is a member of The Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and the NCAA Leadership Advisory Boards.

DeFrantz has earned numerous honors and awards. She was inducted into the National Consortium for Academics and Sports Hall of Fame on October 27, 2009. She was inducted into the John McLendon Minority Athletics Administrators Hall of Fame in June 2009. DeFrantz was honored as Distinguished Woman of Los Angeles by Soroptimist International of Los Angeles in April 2008. She is the recipient of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educations Fund’s Black Woman of Achievement Award and the Sports Lawyers Association Award of Excellence.

She has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Rhode Island, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Pomona College, Mt. St. Mary’s, The College of Wooster, Connecticut College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Haverford College, Pepperdine University, Mills College and Mount Holyoke College. DeFrantz was awarded the 1996 Billie Jean King Contribution Award by the Women’s Sports Foundation.

In 1987, DeFrantz became president and a member of the board of directors of the Amateur Athletic Foundation, now known as the LA84 Foundation, which is managing Southern California’s endowment from the 1984 Olympic Games. DeFrantz is also president and member of the board of Directors of Kids In Sports, Los Angeles.


About the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame®

CoSIDA established the Academic All-America Hall of Fame® in 1988 with the purpose to honor former college student-athletes who have excelled in their professions and made substantial contributions to their community. To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, a candidate must have been an Academic All-America® team member who graduated at least ten years prior to nomination.
For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Mark Fleming, Moravian College (sportsinfo@moravian.edu) (610) 861-1472
Academic All-America Hall of Fame® Coordinator

*-Honorary inductee