Sallie Beard Named NCAA Division II Gold Award Finalist

(From Missouri Southern Athletics)

The NCAA has announced the finalists for the Division II Gold Award, one of those being Missouri Southern's own Sallie Beard. In total, the pool of finalists was narrowed down from 231 to 45, selected by the Division II conferences. Along with Sallie Beard, Jerry Hughes of Central Missouri was chosen to represent the MIAA.

The NCAA Division II Gold Award recognizes one male and one female who have made a lasting and positive impact in Division II. This award is part of the yearlong celebration of the division's 50th anniversary that launched in August and will last through June.

Sallie Beard served as both coach and athletics director at Missouri Southern State for 37 years. She created women's athletics there when she started and coached the first women's basketball, softball and tennis teams in 1974. 

Two years later, she added the women's track and field program. Beard served as the women's athletics director for 25 years before being named the AD for both the men's and women's programs in 2001, making her the first woman in the MIAA to serve in that capacity. 

Under her direction, Missouri Southern State athletes consistently ranked among the academic leaders in the MIAA. Nationally, Beard served on numerous NCAA Division II committees, including the Management Council, as well as on the Association-wide Committee on Women's Athletics. 

From 1999 to 2001, she served as MIAA president, the first athletics director to be chosen for that position. Beard was inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame in 2010 (inaugural class) and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2014, she received the Nike Lifetime Achievement Award from Women Leaders in Sports.

Of these 45 finalists, two overall winners will be selected by the NCAA Division II Management Council Identity Subcommittee, and they will be recognized at the 2024 NCAA Convention in Phoenix.