To the left of these sports all stars, in the middle of the lobby, is the United States Sport Academy Director's Cup. The Cup (pictured below) is presented annually to the most successful collegiate athletic programs in the nation.
This series is the foundation of the Awards of Sport Program. Honoring sports figures for their contribution to sport, this annual program recognizes both the artist and the athlete. Over the years, it has expanded to honor exemplary achievements in coaching, all-around performance, courage, humanitarian activity, fitness and media, as well as the top professional athletes of the year.
Each year the award winners are chosen through a nomination process that begins in January. Athletes and their storied accomplishments are gathered into a database via TV, print and the Internet. These databases are broken down and distributed to the Sports Academy.
Australian sculptor John Robinson and the 1990 Sport Artist of the Year Blair Buswell were commissioned by the Academy to create the bronze medallions that are presented to the Awards of Sport honorees.
Among the medallions shown before you, Robinson designed the Eagle Award, the Jim Thorpe All-Around, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award, the Amos Alonza Stagg Coaching Award and the Jackie Robinson Humanitarian Award. Buswell was commissioned to design the medallions for the Theodore Roosevelt Meritorious Achievement Award, the Juan Antonio Samaranch IOC Disabled Athlete Award, the Dr. Ernst Jokl Sports Medicine Award and the "Order of the Eagle Exemplar" medal.
>>> Learn more about what each Medallion represents and its past recipients.
