January 27, 2016
Joanne Renn, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Andrea Hoover, Senior Woman Administrator, and I represented Virginia Wesleyan College at the annual NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas this month. We also attended a meeting of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. A President's Agenda Day also enabled me to have more direct conversation on athletics issues with NCAA leadership.
This link provides a summary of NCAA Division III actions:
http://www.ncaa.org/about/
The Division III agenda lacked many of the high profile issues of the recent past; however, a highlight for me was an enjoyable visit I had on the flight back east with one of sport’s outstanding humanitarians -- former Georgetown University and NBA star Dikembe Mutombo. Dikembe was an honoree at the NCAA Awards Dinner. He graduated from Georgetown with degrees in linguistics and diplomacy, and he is fluent in nine languages, including five African languages. He has a fascinating background and is a remarkable person!
In 1996, Mutombo paid for the Congo national women’s basketball team to travel to Atlanta and compete in the Summer Olympic Games, and he also covered the cost of the track and field team’s uniforms and expenses. In 1997, he founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, dedicated to improving the health, education and quality of life for people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His foundation provides comprehensive health care at the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, while promoting disease prevention, health policy, health research and increased access to health care education. He was named the Humanitarian of the Year in 2014 by the NBA. It was a real treat to spend time with him.
