Brad Henderson Receives NCAA Walter Byers Scholarship

Henderson and Kimberly Black, an Olympic gold medal swimmer from the University of Georgia, each will receive a $12,500 scholarship from the Association. The NCAA Walter Byers Scholarship Committee selected Henderson and Black from among six finalists -- three men and three women -- from all divisions.

The Byers Scholarship Program was established in 1988 to recognize the contributions of the former NCAA executive director, and it was developed to encourage excellence in academic performance by student-athletes. The student-athletes are chosen in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and potential for success in postgraduate study in his or her planned career. A Byers Scholar is recognized as an individual who has combined the best elements of mind and body to achieve national distinction for his or her achievements, and who promises to be a future leader in his or her chosen field.

Award recipients are required to have at least a 3.500 grade-point average (on a 4.000 scale), show evidence of superior character and leadership, and demonstrate that participation in athletics has been a positive influence on personal and intellectual development, among other qualifications.

Henderson helped lead the Chicago men's basketball team to the 2001 University Athletic Association title and a quarterfinal appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament. Henderson, who owns 3.950 grade point average in economics, will graduate in the summer of 2001 and will attend the University of Oxford (England) as a Rhodes Scholar to pursue a master's of philosophy degree in economics and social history.

In the summer of 1999, Henderson completed a research project funded by the National Science Foundation that focused on the interaction between economics and sociology on demographics. A member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, he was also a staff reporter for the University of Chicago Weekly News, a member of the University Chorus, and a tutor for middle school students from Chicago Public Schools.

Henderson is the second Chicago athlete to earn a Walter Byers Scholarhip. Women's basketball player Kristin Maschka was honored in 1991.

Chicago is one of only two NCAA member institutions to boast more than one Byers Scholarship recipient. Barry (Fla.) University is the other, with women's winners in 1997 and 2000.

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