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Deborah Yow Named 2019 NFF John L. Toner Award Recipient

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5 years ago

June 10, 2019

IRVING, Texas (June 10, 2019) – The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that recently retired NC State University Director of Athletics Deborah Yow has been named the 2019 recipient of the NFF John L. Toner Award.  Presented annually by the NFF since 1997, the John L. Toner Award recognizes athletics directors who have demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football. The award is named in honor of its inaugural recipient the late John L. Toner, former athletics director and football coach at Connecticut and NCAA President. Yow will officially be honored Dec. 10 during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City. Yow, who has served on the NFF Board of Directors since 2008, becomes the first female recipient of the award.

“Debbie Yow has left a lasting legacy during her career as an athletics director, and we felt it was fitting to honor her with the John L. Toner Award as she retires,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “Her leadership has spawned great success on the field and in the classroom at NC State, as well as at Maryland and Saint Louis. Her accomplishments place her at the forefront of her profession, and we look forward to honoring her impact on college athletics and the game of football in December.”

Yow, the ACC’s first female athletics director, oversaw a program of 23 varsity sports from 2010-19 at NC State. After inheriting an athletics department that had just one team finish ranked in the Top 25 in their respective sport the year prior to her arrival, a combined 40 teams have finished ranked in the last four years, including a program-best 12 in 2017-18.

The Wolfpack embraced Yow’s comprehensive and energized vision for the future of the department, which has rallied under its trademark motto: “Wolfpack Unlimited: Refuse To Accept the Status Quo.”

During her time in Raleigh, Yow made significant changes to the structure and branding of the athletics department. Her team established Wolfpack Sports Properties in a new working agreement for multi-media rights with Learfield Communications; a department-wide apparel agreement with Adidas; and a Five-Year Strategic Plan. She also led in the creation of the comprehensive NC State Athletic Hall of Fame, which inducted its inaugural class in 2012.  She hired 17 new head coaches, including current football coach Dave Doeren in 2013, who has led the Wolfpack to back-to-back nine-win seasons (2017-18), a top-25 ranking in 2017 and five straight bowl berths.  Her tenure saw the induction of former NC State greats Ted Brown and Dennis Byrd into the College Football Hall of Fame, and she will be honored in December alongside 2019 inductee Torry Holt. The program also saw the recognition of quarterback Ryan Finley as an NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 2018 for his combined effort on the field, in the classroom and in the community. Since 2010, NC State has had 16 players honored, including a school-record five in 2019, as members of the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, which is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers.

She oversaw the renovations to Reynolds Coliseum, a $35 million joint project with the university to create an incredible home environment for teams competing in the facility, while honoring the Wolfpack’s athletic legacy with the NC State Athletics Walk of Fame & History.

Facilities have been at the forefront of her tenure, and in 2015 NC State opened the $14 million Close-King Indoor Practice Facility. At NC State, Yow oversaw a department that included approximately 185 full-time staff and 550 student-athletes.

A native of Gibsonville, North Carolina, Yow has been deeply connected to NC State since her youth, and her older sister, Kay, was the first full-time women’s coach in the state of North Carolina, when she coached NC State’s first three women’s sports teams: basketball, volleyball and softball.

Yow served as a high school coach at Burlington Williams and Gibsonville Eastern Guilford high schools in North Carolina before becoming the women’s basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. She also served as the head coach at Oral Roberts University and the University of Florida, before switching career paths to become an administrator, at both Florida and UNC Greensboro.  In 1990, Yow was named the athletics director at Saint Louis, where she hired Charlie Spoonhour as men’s basketball coach. In his first season, Spoonhour was named ESPN National Coach of the Year.

Yow then served as athletics director at the University of Maryland from 1994-2010, the second longest tenure in school history. Among her many hires was Ralph Friedgen as football coach, who was named consensus National Coach of the Year in his first season in 2001 after leading the Terps to the ACC championship and an appearance in the Orange Bowl.   Her tenure saw the induction of former Terrapin greats Coach Jerry Claiborne, Stan Jones, Bob Pellegrini and Randy White into the College Football Hall of Fame In 2002, she hired women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese, who led Maryland to the NCAA championship in 2006. Also in 2002, Maryland’s men’s basketball team won the national title.

Under her leadership, Maryland’s 27 varsity programs won a remarkable 20 national championships and consistently graduated student-athletes, including an all-time high federal graduation rate of 80 percent. In 2009, the NCAA News named Maryland as one of the Top 10 athletics programs in the nation.

Yow has served as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the national Division I-A Athletic Directors Association. She has served on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Academic Enhancement Committee, as well as having represented the ACC on the NCAA Management Council.

Both Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal and the Chronicle of Higher Education have cited Yow as being one of the 20 most influential people in college athletics. She was selected to serve on the President’s U.S. Department of Education Commission on Opportunities in Athletics to review the status of Federal Title IX regulations. She earlier served as the chair of the Atlantic Coast Conference Committee on Television, which is charged with overseeing the league’s TV contracts and other related broadcast issues.

Like her older sister, Yow has been inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

Yow has written numerous articles and books on athletics management and human behavior. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Elon University and a master’s degree from Liberty University. She also has been awarded honorary doctorates for professional achievement from Elon, Liberty and the United States Sports Academy. She is married to Dr. William W. Bowden.
Yow will be honored during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner in New York alongside the recipients of the other NFF Major Awards, including famed actor and former UCLA quarterback Mark Harmon, who will accept the organization’s highest honor the NFF Gold Medal, and the yet-to-be-announced recipients of the NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award and the NFF Chris Schenkel Award for excellence in broadcasting. In addition to the presentation of the NFF Major Awards, the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner will provide the stage for the induction of the 2019 College Football Hall of Fame Class; the presentation of the 2019 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards; and the bestowing of the 30th NFF William V. Campbell Trophy^® to the nation’s top football scholar-athlete. This year’s College Football Hall of Fame Class includes Terrell Buckley(Florida State), Rickey Dixon (Oklahoma), London Fletcher (John Carroll [OH]), Jacob Green (Texas A&M), Torry Holt (NC State), Raghib “Rocket” Ismail (Notre Dame), Darren McFadden (Arkansas), Jake Plummer(Arizona State), Troy Polamalu (Southern California), Joe Thomas(Wisconsin), Lorenzo White (Michigan State), Patrick Willis (Mississippi), Vince Young (Texas) and coaches Dennis Erickson (Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State, Miam [FL], Oregon State, Arizona State) and Joe Taylor(Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton, Florida A&M).  On Oct. 30, the NFF will announce the members of the 2019 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, who will vie as finalists for The William V. Campbell Trophy^®. They will be honored at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 10, where one will be named the recipient of the Campbell Trophy^® as the nation’s top football scholar-athlete. For ticket information regarding the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner, please contact NFF Director of External Relations Will Rudd at 972.556.1000 or wrudd@footballfoundation.com.

Recipients of the NFF John L. Toner Award include:

2019 – Deborah Yow (Saint Louis, Maryland, NC State)2018 – Thomas Beckett (Yale)2018 – Bob Scalise (Harvard)2017 – Dan Guerrero (Cal State Dominguez Hills, California-Irvine, UCLA)2016 – Chet Gladchuk (Tulane, Boston College, Houston, Navy)2015 – Mark Hollis (Michigan State) 2014 – Kevin White (Loras [Iowa], Maine, Tulane, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Duke)2013 – Joe Castiglione (Missouri, Oklahoma)
2012 – Mal Moore (Alabama)
2010 – Robert E. Mulcahy III (Rutgers)
2009 – Jim Weaver (UNLV, Western Michigan, Virginia Tech)
2008 – Gene Smith (Eastern Michigan, Iowa State, Arizona State, Ohio State)
2007 – Jeremy Foley (Florida)
2006 – DeLoss Dodds (Kansas State, Texas)
2005 – Jack Lengyel (Fresno State, Missouri, Navy)
2004 – Vince Dooley (Georgia)
2003 – John Clune (Air Force)
2003 – Andy Geiger (Brown, Penn, Stanford, Maryland, Ohio State)
2002 – Bill Byrne (Oregon, Nebraska, Texas A&M)
2001 – Milo R. “Mike” Lude (Kent State, Washington, Auburn)
2000 – Frank Broyles (Arkansas)
1999 – Jake Crouthamel (Syracuse)1999 – David M. Nelson (Delaware) 1998 – Doug Dickey (Tennessee) 1997 – John L. Toner (Connecticut)

About The National Football Foundation & College Hall of FameFounded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include Football Matters®, the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, The William V. Campbell Trophy®, annual scholarships of more than $1.3 million and a series of initiatives to honor the legends of the past and inspire the leaders of the future. NFF corporate partners include Delta Air Lines, Fidelity Investments – a proud partner of the Campbell Trophy®, Goodyear, Herff Jones, New York Athletic Club, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, Sports Business Journal, SportsManias, Under Armour and VICIS. Learn more at footballfoundation.org.

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