Feb. 17, 2010
RICHMOND, Va. -- More than 50,000 student-athletes have competed in the Colonial Athletic Association over the past 25 years. There have been thousands of all-conference performers, hundreds of All-Americans and numerous athletes who have gone on to compete and excel at the professional level and in the Olympic Games.
As a culmination to the CAA's 25th Anniversary celebration, a committee of administrators from each of the CAA's 12 member institutions was given the daunting task of selecting 25 CAA "Silver Stars" - the 25 student-athletes who have had the greatest impact on the conference over the past 25 years.
"The process of selecting the Silver Stars was an ominous task for our committee with the incredible accomplishments of not only those selected, but also the final nominees who were not selected," CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said. "The synopsis speaks for itself. Millions of fans have witnessed some of the nation's greatest athletic accomplishments by this outstanding group of individuals who have set the bar for those that follow."
The CAA Silver Stars are:
Daniel Andersson (VCU - men's tennis), Istvan Bagyula (George Mason - men's track & field), Brett Blizzard (UNC Wilmington - men's basketball), Adin Brown (William and Mary - men's soccer), Sean Casey (Richmond - baseball), Marina DiGiacomo (Old Dominion - field hockey), George Evans (George Mason - men's basketball), Diane Guthrie-Gresham (George Mason - women's track & field), Kate Hynes (Drexel - women's diving), Kelli James (Old Dominion - field hockey), Kellen Kulbacki (James Madison - baseball), Matt Lane (William and Mary - men's cross country and track & field), Kayleigh Lotti (Hofstra - softball), Clarisse Machanguana (Old Dominion - women's basketball), Jon Masa (Hofstra - wrestling), Eric Maynor (VCU - men's basketball), Megan Moulton-Levy (William and Mary - women's tennis), Natalie Neaton (William and Mary - women's soccer), Johnny Newman (Richmond - men's basketball), Ticha Penicheiro (Old Dominion - women's basketball), Aline Pereira (George Mason - volleyball), David Robinson (Navy - men's basketball), Alex Smith (Delaware - men's lacrosse), Carole Thate (James Madison - field hockey) and Justin Verlander (Old Dominion - baseball).
There are 14 males and 11 females among the 25 Silver Stars and they represent 15 different sports and come from 11 CAA institutions. There are eight athletes who were National Players of the Year in their respective sports and seven athletes who competed in the Olympic Games. The group includes 15 athletes who competed professionally in their respective sports, including All-Stars from the NBA, WNBA and Major League Baseball.
The process for selecting the Silver Stars was an extensive one. Earlier this year, 25-member Silver Anniversary teams were selected in each of the CAA's 21 championship sports by a panel of current and former coaches. From that group of 525 Silver Anniversary team members, over 100 athletes were nominated for consideration for Silver Stars. A panel of administrators from each of the CAA's 12 current members then went through the difficult task of narrowing the list to 25.
Robinsonm came to Annapolis as a skinny 6-7 freshman from Woodbridge, Va., and an unheralded Osbourn Park High program. He did not start a game as a freshman in Navy's 24-8 season in 1983-84, but jumped the opening tap in the next 99 games, as Navy rolled to 82 wins in those three campaigns. Few players in any era dominated his opponents the way Robinson did.
In four years, Robinson sprouted six inches and his court numbers swelled. He claimed a pair of national blocked shot titles, as well as a rebounding crown and scored 2,669 points in his career, the 21st most in NCAA history. Over his final three years, Robinson scored 2,455 points, averaging 24.8 ppg from his sophomore to his senior season. Before Robinson, no player in NCAA history had scored 2,500 points, grabbed 1,300 rebounds (1,314) and shot better than 60 percent from the field (.613).
Robinson added to his basketball accolades when he became the only American basketball player to play and win three Olympic Games, participating in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, being a member of the original "Dream Team" in 1992. A perennial All-Star, Robinson led the San Antonio Spurs to the 1999 and 2003 NBA titles
Robinson's lore continued to grow in the NBA, where he was named the league MVP in 1995, Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 and Rookie of the Year in 1990. He and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are the only two players to lead the league in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. Robinson is the only player in NBA history to be named to the All-NBA team as well as the All-Defensive team in each of his first seven years. Lastly, he was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of All-Time.
The 1987 College Player of the Year still owns over 30 different school records at Navy, and was the first overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to charity, in March 2003, the NBA renamed its award for outstanding charitable efforts in honor of Robinson. Winners of the NBA's Community Assist Award receive the David Robinson Plaque, with the inscription "Following the standard set by NBA Legend David Robinson who improved the community piece by piece." The award is given out monthly by the league to recognize players for their charitable efforts.
Robinson was then inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 11, 2009, as part of argubly the greatest class inducted, and joining legendary coach Ben Carnevale as Navy representatives of the Hall of Fame.
# GO NAVY #
