NCAA Inspiration Award

The NCAA Inspiration Award is awarded to one of the following who is associated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association: a current or former varsity letter-winner, a coach, or an administrator. The award is given to an individual who "when confronted with a life-altering situation used perseverance, dedication and determination to overcome the event and now serves as a role model to give hope and inspiration to others in similar situations."^[1]

The Inspiration Award was first awarded in 2002. The recipients of the award are:

Year	Individual	Sport	College affiliation	Ref
2002	Maggie Maloy	Track & Cross country	Defiance College	[2]
	Sam Paneno	Football	University of California, Davis	[2]
2003	Diane Geppi-Aikens	Lacrosse	Loyola College in Maryland	[3]
	Amanda Walton	Field hockey	Yale University	[4]
	Todd Williams	Football	Florida State University	[3]
2004	Heather Denison	Volleyball	University of Portland	[5]
	Emily Miller	Soccer	University of Tennessee at Martin	[5]
	Mike Nyeholt	Swimming	University of Southern California	[6]
2005	Kaia Jergenson	Basketball	Lipscomb University	[7]
	Michelle Thomas	Track and field	University of Oklahoma	[7]
	Macharia Yuot	Track and field	Widener University	[7]
2006	Raul Altreche	Lacrosse	Amherst College	[8]
	John Doar	Basketball	Princeton University	[8]
	Lois Taurman	Basketball, volleyball, & softball	Bellarmine University	[8]
2007	David Denniston	Swimming	Auburn University	[9]
2008	Jim MacLaren	Football	Yale University	[10]
2009	Kelly Brush	Skiing	Middlebury College	[11]
2010	Gregory Gatson	Football	West Point	[12]
	2007 Bluffton University Baseball Team	Baseball	Bluffton University	[13]
2011	Merzudin Ibric	Track and Field	Wheaton College	[14]
2012	Jill Costello[a]	Rowing	University of California, Berkeley	[15]
	Louis Zamperini	Track and field	University of Southern California	[16]
2013	David Borden	Football	Kutztown University of Pennsylvania	[17]
2014	Jason Church	Football	University of Wisconsin–La Crosse	[18]
2015	April Holmes	Track	Norfolk State University	[19]
2016	O. J. Brigance	Football	Rice University	[20]
	Lauren Hill[a]	Basketball	Mount St. Joseph University	[20]
2017	Pete Frates	Baseball	Boston College	[21]
2018	Jim Kelly	Football	University of Miami	[22]
2019	Shaquem Griffin	Football	University of Central Florida	[23]
	Maggie Nichols	Gymnastics	University of Oklahoma	[24]
2020	Trey Moses	Basketball	Ball State University	[25]
	Rocky Bleier	Football	Notre Dame	[26]
2021	Chaunté Lowe	Track and Field	Georgia Tech	[27]
2022	Bob Grant	Football	Wake Forest University	[28]
	Steve Gleason	Football	Washington State University	[29]
2023	Gracie Phelps	Basketball	Western Washington University	[30]
	Black 14	Football	University of Wyoming	[31]
2024	Esera Tuaolo	Football	Oregon State University	[32]
	Roxanne Dunn	Track and Field	Slippery Rock University	[33]
2025	Mike Hollins	Football	University of Virginia	[34]

1. Posthumous award

See also

• NCAA Award of Valor
• NCAA Sportsmanship Award
• NCAA Woman of the Year Award
• NCAA Gerald R. Ford Award
• Silver Anniversary Awards