UH honors Theocharidis, Judd
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Costas Theocharidis and Kate Judd enhanced their resumes and Hawai'i's melting pot reputation yesterday. The spiker from Greece and slugger from Down Under collected the 2003 Bonham Awards at the University of Hawai'i's annual Scholar-Athlete breakfast.
The athletic department's most prestigious award is given to seniors who "best exemplify the ideals for which Jack Bonham stood for in the areas of athletic excellence, academic achievement, public service, leadership and character."
THEOCHARIDIS
Bonham, then UH's assistant athletic director, died in a 1974 plane crash in American Samoa. He was returning from a recruiting trip in New Zealand.
Theocharidis, a two-time national volleyball player of the year and four-time first-team All-American, helped the Rainbows win their first men's team national championship last year. He has a 3.71 cumulative grade-point average and is the program's first Verizon Academic All-American.
"I figure academic awards are the most important," Theocharidis said. "Academics is your future. All of the (academic) awards can enrich your resume. You have a better chance of getting a job. ... I think the ultimate prize is when you can excel in both fields."
Theocharidis did not collect his honor in person, saying "Oops, nobody notified me of the award." Judd was present, along with 10 of the teammates who just helped Hawai'i win its first Western Athletic Conference softball title.
Like Theocharidis, Judd was anxious to call home — Canberra, Australia — to share the news.
The two-time WAC Player of Year and All-American has been Hawai'i's starting shortstop since her freshman year. Her career batting average hovers near .300, and her cumulative GPA is 3.13. Judd has earned national, WAC and UH academic honors.
She was in the midst of explaining the meaning of the Bonham Award to sophomore teammate Stacey Ritter yesterday morning when she discovered she had won.
"I am totally shocked," Judd said. "I was telling her it's all about academics as well as achieving in sport — someone like (basketball player) Christen Roper.
"I've just been going to school and trying to pass. Softball has been my priority, but my parents really wanted me to get an education. ... It's been hard. People know we travel a lot, but I don't think they realize we only get a fraction of the time to study. You might have only an hour a day for homework."
Judd plans to coach softball next season and graduate in December 2004. Theocharidis hopes to play for Greece at the Athens Olympics.
There are 415 student-athletes in Hawai'i's 19 sports. Nearly 40 percent qualified as scholar-athletes, along with eight cheerleaders. The criteria were a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher for freshmen and transfer students, or a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher, or a two-semester GPA (spring-fall 2002) of 3.0 or higher for continuing students. Twenty-four students had perfect (4.0) GPAs last semester.
Rainbow Wahine volleyball, which reached the final four last December, had the highest team GPA (3.36), with 13 of the 15 players at 3.0 or higher. Seniors Margaret Vakasausau and Hedder Ilustre invited speech professors Kristi Schaller and Mary Beth Calison to join them at breakfast.
"They work hard," Calison said of the players. "They come to class when we know they're weary."
"They take the initiative," added Schaller. "They're good leaders."
SCHOLARLY SHORTS: For the first time, the UH cross country team was included as one of the NCAA Division I All-Academic teams. The team had a cumulative GPA of 3.19, placing 96th out of 118 eligible teams. ... UH ranked third among WAC cross country teams. Tulsa, with a 3.68 GPA, was No. 1 nationally and Nevada (3.23) tied for 90th. ... To qualify, a team must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00. There are 323 Division 1 women's cross country teams.
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