Service Excellence Award
NASSS Service Excellence Award
Submission Deadline: Monday May 12, 2025
The NASSS Service Excellence Award is awarded at our annual meeting to an individual who has offered distinguished service and long-time contributions to the organization (NASSS) and/or the area of the sociology of sport more generally.
To nominate someone, submit a one to two-page statement, in the form of a letter, about a nominee you believe is a worthy recipient of this award. The letter should describe in detail why NASSS should recognize the recipient. Self-nominations are welcome.
A list of the previous winners is available on the NASSS website here: https://nasss.org/awards/service-excellence-award/.
Criteria include, but are not limited to:
- Service to NASSS as an organization.
- Scholarly impact on the field through the discipline of the sociology of sport
Process:
- Nominations may be submitted by an individual or jointly by a group of NASSS members.
- It is not required that the nominee or recipient be a NASSS member. Nor is service to the organization as an elected officer a sufficient or required criterion.
2025 Submissions:
Please submit nomination letters to NASSS Past-President and Committee Chair, Dr. Brian Gearity at [email protected].
The Service Excellence Award Committee members: Drs. Parissa Safai (York University) and A. Lamont Williams (San Jose State University).
We look forward to receiving your submission and acknowledging the winner’s distinguished service.
Please consider submitting a nomination for the NASSS Service Excellence Award. The award is presented at our annual meeting to an individual who has offered distinguished service and long-time contributions to the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, and/or the area of the sociology of sport more generally.
To nominate someone, submit a one to two-page statement, in the form of a letter, about a nominee whom you believe is a worthy recipient of this award. The letter should describe in some detail the reasons why NASSS should recognize the recipient. Self-nominations are welcome.
Criteria include, but are not limited to:
- Service to NASSS as an organization
- Scholarly impact on the field through the discipline of the sociology of sport
Process:
- Nominations may be submitted by an individual, or jointly by a group of individual NASSS members.
- It is not required that the nominee or recipient be a NASSS member. Nor is service to the organization as an elected officer a sufficient or required criteria.
2025 Submissions
For further information, see the About this Award tab.
Submission Deadline: Monday May 12, 2025.
Please submit nomination letters to NASSS Past-President and Committee Chair, Dr. Brian Gearity at [email protected].
| 2024 | Jen McGovern (Monmouth University) |
| 2023 | Bob Case (Old Dominion University) Cheryl Cooky (Purdue University) Michael Giardina (Florida State University) |
| 2021 & 2022 | Not Awarded |
| 2020 | Billy Hawkins (University of Houston) |
| 2019 | Brenda Riemer (Eastern Michigan University) |
| 2018 | Mary McDonald (Georgia Institute of Technology) |
| 2017 | Eric Dunning (University of Leicester) |
| 2017 | Gertrud Pfister (Københavns Universitet) |
| 2016 | Norman Denzin (University of Illinois) |
| 2015 | Mary Jo Kane (University of Minnesota) |
| 2014 | R. Vivian Acosta (Brooklyn College) and Linda Jean Carpenter (Brooklyn College) |
| 2013 | Nancy Spencer (Bowling Green University) |
| 2012 | Merrill Melnick (SUNY Brookport) & Peter Donnelly (University of Toronto) |
| 2011 | Don Sabo (DYouville College) & Gary Sailes (Indiana University) |
| 2010 | Joseph Maguire (Loughborough University) |
| 2009 | Susan Birrell (University of Iowa) & Harry Edwards (University of California, Berkeley) |
| 2008 | Jennifer Hargreaves (Universities of Surrey and Brighton, UK) & Richard Lapchick (University of Central Florida) |
| 2007 | Mike Malec (Boston College) & Michael Messner (University of Southern California) |
| 2006 | Vicky Paraschak (University of Windsor) |
| 2005 | Nancy Theberge (University of Waterloo) |
| 2004 | Jim Frey (University of NevadaLas Vegas) |
| 2003 | John Loy (Universities of Illinois and Otago) |
| 2002 | Andrew Yiannakis (University of Connecticut) & Susan Greendorfer (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) |
| 2001 | George Sage (University of Northern Colorado) & D. Stanley Eitzen (Colorado State University) |
| 1996 | Jay Coakley (University of ColoradoColorado Springs), Gunther Lueschen (University of Alabama), & Lee Vander Velden (University of Maryland) |
| 1995 | Gerald Kenyon (Universities of Wisconsin and Waterloo) |