GENEVA, N.Y.—The annual William Smith College Athletics Awards dinner will be streamed live on HWSAthletics.com. The "Night of Champions" begins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 23 in the Vandervort Room of the Scandling Campus Center.
 
The evening will be a celebration of the many accomplishments of Heron student-athletes during the 2018-19 academic year. Dozens of awards will be presented during the evening, most will be a surprise, but the winners of the Heron Award and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Awards were announced today.
 
The Heron Award is presented periodically for a person's commitment to William Smith College and its athletics program. This year, the Heron Society Board of Directors selected Kathleen Champlin for the honor. The administrative assistant in the athletic department since 2007, she plays a key role in budget management, event planning and many other areas of department operations. Champlin worked directly as the assistant to Athletic Director Deb Steward. Champlin's work has had a wide-ranging and tremendous impact on student-athletes, parents, colleagues, alumnae and visitors. She plans to retire later this year.
 
Each year the SAAC presents three awards to show its appreciation to members of the Geneva community, the faculty and the staff.
 
The 2019 SAAC Community Appreciation Award will be presented to Woody Travis and Nancy Caves. A former member of the HWS Career Services Staff, Caves helps out with event management duties at Heron athletic contests, but spends even more of her retirement time in the stands cheering on the Herons across a wide range of sports. Travis, a former building supervisor at Bristol Field House, has remained active on campus, serving as the official scoreboard operator at countless soccer, basketball and lacrosse games through the years.
 

The 2019 SAAC Faculty Appreciation Award will go to Professor of Chemistry Walter Bowyer. His support of Heron athletics began as a show of support for some of his chemistry students cheering them from the stands of McCooey Field. Now an avid supporter of Herons in all sports, he is a member of the Colleges' Faculty-Athletic Fellows program, which fosters relationships between the faculty and student-athletes with the goal of maximizing success in the classroom and the athletic arena.

 

The 2019 SAAC Staff Appreciation Award will be presented to Interim President Patrick A. McGuire L.H.D.'12. For over 40 years, he has served the HWS community as a scholar, teacher and leader. He is a professor emeritus of economics, former interim provost and dean of faculty, a co-chair of the Culture of Respect initiative and most recently as interim president. Throughout it all, McGuire has been a steadfast support of the Herons, particularly on the basketball and squash courts.
 
In addition to team and department-wide awards, this year's celebration will also include the inaugural HESPY Awards. Based on ESPN's ESPY Awards, HESPY categories include Best Blooper, Best Comeback, Best Finish, Best Moment, Best Performance and Best Upset. There will also be three new social media awards for Best Caption, Best Photo and Best Tweet.
 
The William Smith Athletics Awards Banquet has been permanently underwritten thanks to the generosity of a William Smith alumna with gratitude for her experience as a Heron student-athlete.