Morristown, NJ - The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame announced that Mike Lude has been selected to receive the 2001 John L. Toner Award. Presented annually, the Toner Award is given to an athletic director who has demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics and particularly college football.
In announcing this year's award, National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Chairman Jon F. Hanson noted that, "Mike has contributed immensely to collegiate athletics as an assistant football coach, head coach, and athletic director. He gained national recognition as one of the leading and most respected administrators in the country. We are proud to be able to present this prestigious award to Mike."
The award will be presented at the Foundation's Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, December 11, 2001, in New York City. Mike Lude will also be a guest of the Foundation and seated on the dais for the 44th Annual Awards Dinner that evening. The Awards Dinner is the highlight of the college football season and a tribute to the game of amateur football at which the Foundation will honor special awardees, induct the 2001 College Football Hall of Fame Class, and present fifteen National College Scholar-Athletes with over $300,000 in postgraduate scholarships.
Milo R. "Mike" Lude
2001 John L. Toner Award Recipient
Mike Lude's affiliation with college athletics and particularly with college football is deep-rooted, dating back to the 1940s when he was a star and captain of the football and baseball teams at Hillsdale College. In nearly 50 years of service to college athletics, he has excelled as a player, coach, public speaker, and athletic administrator.
Following high school, Lude enlisted in the United States Marine Corps where he served from 1943-46, all the time maintaining involvement in athletics, functioning as his company's head football and baseball coach until he received his discharge.
In 1947, Lude received a bachelor's degree from Hillsdale College and was subsequently hired to be the school's physical education instructor and head baseball coach. In 1949, he accepted the position of head baseball coach at the University of Maine and won the conference championship in 1950.
From 1951-1962, Lude applied his coaching and administrative talents at the University of Delaware as assistant to the director of admissions, assistant professor of physical education, and assistant football coach. While coaching at Delaware, Lude continued his education taking graduate courses at Michigan State University, and in 1953, earned his master's degree. He received his first taste of being a head coach in 1962 when he was hired as head football coach at Colorado State, a position he would hold for eight years. While at Colorado State, he was honored as the Sportsman of the Year by the Rolling Hills Country Club and by the United Press International.
The next step in Lude's administrative career came in 1970 when he became the director of intercollegiate athletics at Kent State University, where he remained for six years before assuming the same position at the University of Washington. Over the course of the next 15 years, he established himself as one of the great leaders and influences in collegiate athletics. He retired from Washington in 1991 and became the executive director of the Blockbuster Bowl. Collegiate athletics summoned him back in 1992 to the director of athletics post at Auburn, a position he held until 1994. Since then, he continues to be active as a public speaker and consultant.
Throughout his distinguished career, Lude has had a major influence while chairing the NCAA Postseason Football Committee, the NCAA Football Rules Committee, the PAC-10 Television Committee, and the PAC-10 Budget Committee.
He has received numerous awards, which include the James Corbett Award, given to the Nation's Outstanding Athletic Director by NACDA, the Division I-A NCAA Athletic Directors Homer Rice Award, the United States Sports Academy's Carl Maddox Award for outstanding lifetime contribution to intercollegiate athletics, the Tony Gasparovich Memorial Coach Award, the Hillsdale College Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, and the Contribution to Amateur Football Award from the Seattle Chapter of The National Football Foundation. In addition, he has received honorary doctorates from the United States Sports Academy and Hillsdale College.
Currently, Mike Lude resides in Tucson, Arizona, with his wife Rena.
Past Toner Award Recipients include:
2000 - Frank Broyles
1999 - Jake Crouthamel, Davey Nelson
1998 - Doug Dickey
1997 - John L. Toner
