The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women's Basketball's Boyette to receive Wilma Rudolph Award
06.04.2016 | Women's Basketball
Award honors student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and emotional odds.
AUSTIN, Texas – Imani Boyette, a standout Texas women's basketball player from 2012-16 and the 10th pick in the 2016 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky, has been named one of five recipients of the 2016 Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award, presented by the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics (N4A).
The recipients will be recognized during the 2016 N4A Convention Awards Luncheon on Saturday, June 11 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. UT Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance Services Blake Barlow will accept the award on Boyette's behalf.
The N4A Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award is intended to honor student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics.
"On behalf of the N4A Board of Directors and membership, I would like to congratulate the five recipients of the 2016 N4A Wilma Rudolph Award," stated N4A President Jean Boyd, senior associate athletics director for student-athlete development and performance at Arizona State. "Like Wilma Rudolph, they have overcome significant obstacles on their journey toward achievement. We applaud their spirit and tenacity as they not only serve as models for their peers, their campuses and their communities, but models for us all. We anticipate how they will continue to grow and have an impact on our world."
Boyette has an incredible story of achievement despite significant obstacles to find great success on the basketball court, in the classroom and within the community. As a survivor of multiple suicide attempts and molestation at a young age, Boyette has used poetry, basketball and her experiences at the University of Texas to overcome a turbulent youth.
She has been recognized with the Honda Inspiration Award and was named the 2014-15 Big 12 Conference Female Sportsperson of the Year. She was selected as a 2016 recipient of the prestigious Texas Exes President's Leadership Award, which is presented to undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within the student community at the University of Texas.
Boyette became the first player in the history of the Texas women's basketball program to reach the combined milestone of 1,000 career points, 1,000 career rebounds and 200 career blocks.
She finished her decorated career 22nd on UT's all-time career scoring list with 1,361 career points, fifth on UT's all-time career rebounding list with 1,036 career rebounds and second on UT's all-time career blocks list with 303. Boyette's 104 blocks this past season ranks second on the school's all-time career single-season blocks list.
Boyette recently earned her bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Texas' prestigious McCombs School of Business.
2016 WILMA RUDOLPH STUDENT-ATHLETE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
Carl Appleton, Lewis and Clark College (football, basketball)
Imani Boyette, University of Texas (basketball)
Nicole Dennion, Elon University (soccer)
Gaelin Elmore, University of Minnesota (football)
Bailey Wind, University of Tennessee (Diving)
About N4A: N4A, which has been in existence since 1975, is a diverse educational service and professional non-profit organization. Membership of N4A includes academic support and student services personnel who are committed to enhancing opportunities for academic, athletics and personal success for student-athletes. For more information on N4A, visit www.nfoura.org. N4A is administered by NACDA, now in its 51st year, administers 16 professional associations, including seven for the separate business units that report directly to the athletics directors. For more information on NACDA, visit www.nacda.com.
