Texas Tech University Athletics
Ross Earns Top Award
April 01, 2005 | Men's Basketball
April 1, 2005
Springfield, Mass.- The Basketball Hall of Fame and Chip Hilton Sports are proud to announce that Ronald Ross has been selected as this year's Chip Hilton Award winner and Tom Izzo of Michigan State University is the 2005 recipient of the Coach Clair Bee Award.
Five of the nation's premier basketball coaches and five outstanding players were named as finalists for the prestigious Clair Bee and Chip Hilton Awards, to be presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame and Chip Hilton Sports during the Final Four in St. Louis on April 4 at the Hall of Fame's "Family Brunch" at the Renaissance Grand Hotel.
The Coach Clair Bee Award honors the Active Division I men's basketball coach who has made the most significant positive contribution to his sport during the preceding year. The winner reflects the character and professional qualities of Clair Bee, a Hall of Fame coach whom many consider the best technical basketball coach in history and a man who cared deeply about his players' well being.
The five finalists for the Clair Bee Award were Tom Brennan (Vermont), Jim Calhoun (Connecticut), Pat Flannery (Bucknell), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), and Bob Thomason (Pacific).
Coach Tom Izzo is appearing in his fourth Final Four in his first 10 seasons as a college head coach, becoming just the second coach in NCAA history to accomplish such a feat. Fred Taylor took his Buckeyes of Ohio State to four Final Fours in his first 10 seasons.
In his tenth year, Tom Izzo is 233-96 (.708) overall, and 117-47 (.713) in Big Ten play as the coach of the Michigan State basketball program. With the recent win over Duke, he passed Benjamin Van Alstyne to become the second winningest in MSU history, trailing only Jud Heathcote (340) in total wins.
The Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award honors a senior Division I men's player for demonstrating outstanding character, leadership, and talent similar to the qualities evident in the 24-book Chip Hilton sports series. The books authored by Clair Bee enjoyed their first popularity in the late 1940s through the mid-1960s and were updated and re-released to a new generation of readers in 1999.
The five finalists for the Chip Hilton Award were Ryan Gomes (Providence), Rob Monroe (Quinnipiac), Spencer Nelson (Utah), Shane Power Mississippi), and Ronald Ross (Texas Tech).
The Selection Committee tapped Ross as the recipient of this year's award. Ross, a 6-foot-2 senior guard will graduate in May with his degree in Human Development & Family Services. Ross began his career as a walk-on at Texas Tech and as a senior was named team captain. He led his unheralded squad to the "Sweet Sixteen" in this season's NCAA Tournament.
Ross averaged a team-leading 17.5 points per game and established new school marks for steals in a single season (86), career steals (204), and played in 132 games during his Red Raider career - the most ever by a Tech player. He was recently named to Basketball Times All-America squad, was voted First Team All-Big 12, and was selected to the NABC All-Star squad, which will face the Harlem Globetrotters in St. Louis during the Final Four weekend.
Coach Clair F. Bee, the late Long Island University coach and Hall of Famer, compiled an .826 lifetime winning percentage, still the best in major-college coaching history. Known as the "Innovator", Clair Bee's influence on the game also extended to strategies, (1-3-1 zone defense), (3-second rule), sports camps (Camp All-America and Kutsher's Sports Academy), writing technical coaching books, and conducting coaching clinics around the world.
By the time he left coaching in the 1950s, Clair Bee had already begun writing the Chip Hilton Sports Series, which are considered the top sports fiction series ever written.
Chip Hilton Sports and the Basketball Hall of Fame began presenting the awards in 1997 as a way to honor outstanding excellence and character in college basketball during the past season.
The selection committee is composed of Jay Bilas, Dave Gavitt, Bob Hammel, Bob Knight, Pete Newell, Billy Packer, Dean Smith, Dick Vitale, and Kevin Weiberg.
Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University was the 2004 Clair Bee Award winner. Last season's Chip Hilton Award winner was Emeka Okafor of the University of Connecticut.
