ST. LOUIS -- Michael Ward of Bradley University and Emily Butters of Missouri State University have been selected as the male and female recipients, respectively, of the Missouri Valley Conference’s Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete Award, Valley Commissioner Doug Elgin has announced. The Missouri Valley Conference Faculty Athletics Representatives Committee selected Ward and Butters from a field of league student-athletes who met the award criteria, including academic achievement, athletics excellence and service and leadership.
Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete Award Announcement (PDF)
Last month Ward (Cardiff, South Wales/Llanishen School) was crowned as the as the 66th recipient of the Charles Orsborn Award, the most prestigious award Bradley University bestows upon a graduating student-athlete. He was also recognized as the Bradley University 2017-18 Varsity Club Most Outstanding Male Athlete and for the 2018-19 Men's Individual Performance of the Year. Ward is a six-time MVC champion on the track and a 14-time all-conference performer in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. The 2014 MVC Cross Country Freshman of the Year, he helped the Braves to three of their four straight Valley Cross Country titles, and also helped the program earn its first-ever trip to the NCAA Cross Country Championship by earning NCAA All-Midwest Region honors for the second time in 2018. An individual qualifier for the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championship, he also has qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track West Prelims in the 5000 meters in each of his first three track seasons, as well as the 1500 meters in 2015 and 2017. Ward most recently qualified for the 10,000m at this year’s NCAA West Prelims.
After graduating with his degree in biochemistry with a 3.86 grade point average, Ward has been working on his master's in business administration in 2018-19 while pursuing entry into dental school. Among his service activities, Ward joined several of his teammates for a week-long trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi, to assist Habitat for Humanity projects. He has assisted with young children at the Hult Center's Healthy Heroes program, while also assisting veterans with labor intensive work through the Illinois Valley Fuller Center, as well as the Mission of Mercy free dental clinic.
Butters was an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Honorable Mention All-American as a junior in 2017, and this past year became the fifth player in Missouri State history to earn multiple all-region honors, as she landed on the AVCA's all-Midwest Region First Team for the second-straight season. A libero, Butters led the Bears with 5.08 digs per set in 2018, finishing the season with 599 total digs, the fifth-highest figure in school history, while ranking fourth in single-season average.
The Richmond, Texas, native owns nearly every digs record at Missouri State, with her 2,482 career digs placing her third in MVC and 16th in NCAA history. Additionally, Butters played in every set of her career, ranking fourth MSU history with 513 total, and seventh in NCAA history for consecutive sets. She had a 3.93 cumulative grade point average while majoring in exercise & movement science, with an emphasis in pre-professional physical therapy. The three-time MVC first-team scholar-athlete selection plans to attend The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. In accordance with MVC policy, Butters will be the MVC nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year.
The first-ever recipient of the Honda Award of Merit in 1996 for outstanding achievement in women’s collegiate athletics, Dr. Charlotte West was a driving force for more than 40 years in the area of advancement of women’s sports. On June 30, 1998, she retired from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, after serving in the capacities of head coach, associate athletics director, interim athletics director and senior woman administrator during her 41 years with the Missouri Valley Conference-member institution. West coached five women’s sports from 1957-75 and, in 1982, was among the first group of women inducted into the SIUC Athletics Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014. SIU named its softball stadium after West in 2003 and the NCAA named a room in its new national office building in Indianapolis in West's honor in 2012.
During her tenure at SIUC, she became the first female member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and later served on the organization’s board of directors. West was also a president of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). In 1991, she was presented with the Administrator of the Year Award by the National Association of Collegiate Women Administrators. West also received the Administrator of the Year Award, given by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.