South Carolina Athletics Communications and Public Relations
The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) today announced the winners of the 2020-21 NABC Guardians of the Game Pillar Award, when it was announced that the South Carolina men’s basketball coach Frank Martin, along with the Kentucky coach John Calipari and head coach at Harvard Tommy Amaker, will share the Inclusion Award for his work with the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative.
The Guardian of the Game Pillar Awards represent the core values of the association for advocacy, education, inclusion, leadership and service. A total of eight NABC member coaches will be honored, including Colorado chief Tad Boyle, for advocacy; Leonard Hamilton, principal technician for the State of Florida, for education; Phil Martelli, Michigan associate coach, for leadership; Rob Krimmel, coach at Saint Francis University, and Eric Reveno, assistant coach at Georgia Tech, for the service, and Martin, Amaker and Calipari for the inclusion.
“I feel humble and honored to receive this award and to share this moment with two great men like Tommy Amaker and John Calipari,” said Martin. “Serving the coaching profession and elevating other people’s lives is a great mission of mine on my journey in life.”
On June 1, 2020, John Calipari paused his podcast after 20 weeks to help launch the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative, nominated for Hall of Fame and innovative coach John McLendon. He recruited Amaker and Martin, both members of the NABC’s Racial Reconciliation Committee to join him. His idea was to recruit minority candidates, known as MLI Leaders of the Future, to be able to leverage their careers through practical experiences and opportunities to build their network while instilling John McLendon’s values: integrity, education, leadership and mentoring.
The initiative attracted coaches from across America to get involved in the process. Most are male basketball coaches, and many have joined other coaches in other sports on their campuses to participate. These coaches provide funding for minority candidates to be employed in administrative athletics positions for one year. Martin and ex-Gamecock football coach Will Muschamp, joined forces to finance the 2020-21 scholarship for Carolina McLendon fellow Simone Wark.
This group of eight will receive their prizes on Friday, April 2, during the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show. The show is the end of the 2021 NABC Convention, being held this year on a virtual platform due to the pandemic. The NABC holds its convention every year in conjunction with the NCAA Men’s Four Finals.
The show will be broadcast live at the Stadium (https://watchstadium.com) starting at 6:30 pm EDT.