USSA’s Academy Awards of Sport

Bethany Hamilton To Receive Courage Award At UH Football Game On November 25

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 November, 2005 : - The United States Sports Academy announced that teen surfing star Bethany Hamilton will be presented with the 2005 Mildred Babe Dirdrikson-Zacharias Courage Award at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii during a ceremony prior to the University of Hawaii-Wisconsin football game Friday, Nov. 25.

UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier will present the award, which is part of USSA’s Academy Awards of Sport Program, to honor the 15-year-old for her bravery both during and after a near-death experience.

An accomplished surfer by age 13, Hamilton was showing professional potential before a 14-foot tiger shark attacked her while she was surfing near Kauai’s North Shore in Hawaii on Oct. 31, 2003. Her left arm was severed in the attack, jeopardizing her professional career, but she was back on the surfboard only weeks after the attack and winning again less than a year afterwards.

In Aug. 2004, at the first stop on the Hawaii National Scholastic Surfing Association circuit, she took first in the Open Womens competition, placing ahead of 2003-04 national champion Carissa Moore. This past June, she placed first in the womens exploratory division of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) National Championships at San Clemente, Calif. She has had five top-three finishes in competitions since the attack.

The Mildred Babe Didrikson Zacharias Courage Award is named in honor of the former Olympic track and field gold medalist and champion golf pro that won five tournaments, including the U.S. Open, after being diagnosed with cancer during the prime of her career.

The award has been presented annually since 1986 as part of the Award of Sport Medallion Series honoring the artist and the athlete. Past recipients have included Rocky Bleier, Jim Abbott, Lance Armstrong, Roy Campanella, Scott Hamilton and Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The United States Sports Academy, Americas Sport University, is an independent, nonprofit institution that offers sport-specific programs to students, teachers, and administrators around the world. The Academy has a special mission to serve the sports industry as a resource in instruction, research, and other vital sports-related services. It is the only freestanding institution of higher learning in the United States offering masters and doctoral degrees in Sport Science and Sport Management, in addition to its extensive certification programs.

www.ussa.edu

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Daphne Ala

Awards - Surfersvillage