NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) announced the winners of the Merle Chapman Leadership Award on Tuesday.
The Merle Chapman Leadership award, which began during the 2002-03 academic year, is named after the longtime football coach/athletics director at Millikin University and the second commissioner of the CCIW. Chapman served in that capacity from 1997-2002.
This award identifies the student-athletes from CCIW-sponsored sports that best exemplify the traits that Chapman displayed and encouraged during his three-plus decades of service as teacher, coach and mentor to the athletes, coaches and administrators of the CCIW. Those traits are loyalty, enthusiasm, leadership, sportsmanship, and a commitment to academic, athletic and personal excellence.
Each school picked a male and female winner from its institution and the winners were honored on Tuesday, April 16 at the CCIW’s SAAC leadership workshop and luncheon.
2012-13 CCIW Merle Chapman Award Winners
Augustana
Megan Vandersee (Sr., Sterling, Ill./H.S./Chemistry & Education) - Women's Golf
Brandon Kunz (Sr., Lake Zurich, Ill./H.S./Pre-Medicine) - Men's Basketball
Carthage
Cailee Corcoran (Sr., Oak Lawn, Ill./Marist/Accounting & Marketing) - Women's Basketball
Steven Mathe (Sr., Wauconda, Ill./Carmel Catholic/Chemistry) - Men's Swimming
Elmhurst
Samantha Szarmach (So., St. Charles, Ill./East/Business Administration) - Volleyball
Wayne Tuckson (Sr., Louisville, Ky./Dupont Manual/Criminal Justice) - Football
Illinois Wesleyan
Melissa Gardner (Sr., Chebanse, Ill./Clifton Central/Psychology) - Women's Basketball
Danny Kenny (Sr., Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette/Environmental & Hispanic Studies) - Men's Soccer
Millikin
Cora Jeffers (Sr., Sherman, Ill./Williamsville/Music Education) - Softball
Jake Palmer (Sr., Villa Grove, Ill./H.S./Elementary Education) - Football
North Central
Mary Kate Rohn (Jr., Elmhurst, Ill./York/Sport Management) - Women's Golf
Dionte Hackler (Jr., Schaumburg, Ill./H.S./Sociology) - Men's Track & Field
North Park
Kristin Gibbs (Jr., Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar/Pre-Medicine) - Women's Soccer
Matt Hassan (Sr., Wheaton, Ill./Glenbard West/History) - Football
Wheaton
Cassie Murphy (Sr., Belleville, Ill./East/Applied Health Science) - Volleyball
Matt McCrary (Jr., Wilmette, Ill./New Trier/Business-Economics) - Wrestling
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services eight member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2011-12 academic year, the CCIW honored 1,323 academic all-conference recipients, 16 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 1 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, 89 all-Americans and three national championship teams.