By: Michael L. Damon
mdamon@jjay.cuny.edu
(212) 237-8322
AWARD WINNERS
NEW YORK, N.Y.— It was a night of celebration with loads of fun on Wednesday as the John Jay College Department of Athletics, Recreation and Intramurals celebrated its 40th Annual Athletics Awards Banquet. The event was held inside the main gymnasium at Haaren Hall.
Nearly 300 folks, consisting of student-athletes, coaches, athletics staff, family members and special guests were on hand to celebrate the accomplishments of the John Jay athletics department and its student-athletes during the 2012-13 athletics year.
The event got underway at 5:30 p.m. with a meet and greet in the auxiliary gymnasium, located adjacent to the main gymnasium. During this time, the student-athletes were given an opportunity to partake in a voluntary athletics questionnaire as a way to give feedback to the athletics department to see which aspects the athletics department is succeeding and which areas need to improve upon for the athletics department's initiative of “Bloodhounds Moving Forward.”
After the meet and greet, the formal portion of the banquet got underway. New John Jay Director of Athletics,
Carol Kashow welcomed everyone to the event and thanked them for their attendance. During this time, the Bloodhounds were introduced to Madison, a five-year old Bloodhound who has had her own degree of success, including sniffing out three convicted felons as well as a lost child and several people with Alzheimer's Disease.
After Madison's guest appearance, Kashow introduced Vice President for Student Development, Lynette Cook-Francis to say a few words to the attendees. Cook-Francis joined the Bloodhound family in March after serving as Senior Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of Arizona and mentioned how excited she is to be a part of the “blue and gold.”
After V.P. Cook-Francis spoke, the first of the awards were distributed, including CUNY Scholar-Athlete awards, CUNY Scholar-Athlete of the Year honorable mentions, ECAC Awards of Appreciation, the John Jay Watchdog Award, Susan Larkin Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Award, Herbert Erlanger, M.D. Wellness Award, John Jay Scholar-Athlete Award, Student Employee of the Year Award, four year student-athlete awards and the Intramural Champions.
After those awards were distributed, dinner was served, while Disc Jockey Joe Tribuzio entertained the attendees.
The second half of the event started with John Jay College President, Jeremy Travis, welcoming the crowd and reiterating the great commitment it takes to be a successful student-athlete. Following that the City University of New York Athletic Conference All-Star awards were distributed, followed by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association award winners. Then John Jay men's basketball player,
Jamar Harry was recognized for being the first John Jay student-athlete in many years to earn All-American status.
Following that, the John Jay team awards were given out, as each coach came to the podium to speak about his or her respective team, then announced the award winners, which featured one Most Improved Player and one Most Outstanding Player.
At the conclusion of the team awards, the Female Athlete of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year were announced. The female Athlete of the Year was
Jamecia Forsythe of the women's basketball team, while the male Athlete of the Year was
Jamar Harry from the men's basketball team.
Then the best dressed award was given out to the sharpest male and female dresser.
The night concluded with a raffle for cool prizes courtesy of various John Jay vendors and closing remarks from CUNYAC Executive Director, Zak Ivkovic.
