Lee McKinney Distinguished Service Award
About the Award
The Lee McKinney SLIAC Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to the individual that has served or competed in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and best exemplifies the qualities of leadership, dedication, service, and perseverance displayed by longtime Fontbonne University director of athletics, Lee McKinney.
Dr. McKinney served as director of athletics at Fontbonne for 23 years, seeing the athletics program at the institution grow from three teams and 19 student-athletes when he arrived in 1988 to 19 teams and over 350 student-athletes at the time of his retirement. Dr. McKinney was instrumental in the formation of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as he joined representatives from Blackburn College, Maryville University, Parks College, Principia College and Webster University in chartering the Conference in September 1989.
During his years of service to the Conference, Dr. McKinney chaired the SLIAC Administrative Council and represented the Conference nationally, serving on the NCAA Management Council, Financial Aid Committee and Nominating Committee.
Dr. McKinney, who was a two-time cancer survivor, passed away on April 4, 2011. He had dedicated countless hours of service to local community organizations and raising money for various charities, mainly the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Coaches vs. Cancer.
Recipients
2010: Dr. Lee McKinney, Fontbonne University {Release}
2011: Dr. Robert W. Johnson, Greenville College {Release}
2012: Lora McMullin, Principia College & Tom Sullivan, women's basketball official {Release}
2013: Mim Pride, Blackburn College {Release}
2014: Dr. Dennis Golden, Fontbonne University {Release}
2015: Dr. George Barber, Greenville College {Release}
2016: Dr. Doug Faulkner, Greenville College {Release} SPEECH
2017: Alyssa Logan, Spalding University {Release} SPEECH
2018: Dr. Brian Roberts, Principia College {Release}
2019: Matt Mitchell, Westminster College {Release} SPEECH
2020: Mary Ann Sprague, Principia College {Release}
2022: Roger Burkman, Spalding University {Release} SPEECH