• All-Time OVC Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award Winners | Feature on Jamaal From TTUSports.com
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech junior football and men's basketball student-athlete
Jamaal Thompson has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award.
The award is given annually to an Ohio Valley Conference male or female student-athlete of junior or senior standing who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator Steve Hamilton. Criteria include significant athletics performance along with good sportsmanship and citizenship. The award is voted on by the Conference's athletics directors and sports information directors.
Hamilton competed on OVC Championship teams in each baseball, basketball and track while at Morehead State. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1958 and a master's degree also from Morehead State in 1963. He went on to have an 11-year major-league pitching career and coached in the minor leagues before returning to MSU in 1976 to become head baseball coach. He held that position for 13 years and compiled a 305-275 record while leading the Eagles to five divisional championships and two OVC titles. He was named Morehead State's Director of Athletics in July 1988 and served in that position until his death in 1997. As the A.D., Hamilton led the program to success on the field, in facilities and in the classroom. During his tenure, a weight room was built, an academic counselor for athletes was added, graduation rates of student-athletes improved and the University won the OVC Academic Achievement Banner four times. Hamilton is the only individual to play in the NCAA Basketball Championship, a Major League Baseball World Series (New York Yankees) and a National Basketball Association Championship Series (Minnesota Lakers).
On the field Thompson has been a three-year member of the Golden Eagles football team, serving on the team's leadership committee this season. On the field he collected 29 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, while forcing and recovering two fumbles. When the football season was postponed to the spring, he joined the TTU basketball program, seeing action in three games and becoming the first Tennessee Tech student-athlete to be on the roster for both sports since 1992.
In the classroom he has earned a 3.96 GPA in communications, earning his undergraduate degree this spring. He has earned the OVC Academic Medal of Honor and been named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll in addition to being a nominee for Tennessee Tech’s Derryberry Award, the University’s highest honor to be bestowed on a student. In addition to his work in the classroom, he also helps other student-athletes as an academic tutor.
In the Fall of 2020 he was the co-creator of CODE (Center of Diversity Education), which is a student-led campus organization that promotes unity through diversity (the organization has over 40 members currently). It allows student-athletes the opportunity to convene and communicate real world issues, changes they would like to see in the community and the world. The organization also partners with area schools in the communities where members serve as role models and help impact the youth. He also helped create and organize a three-hour service learning class in partnership with local law enforcement. He also hosts a CODE podcast providing student-athletes and members of the community the platform to share their stories/perspectives to help further diversity/inclusion.
In October of 2020, he helped organize a peaceful CODE-sponsored march through Tech’s campus to protest social inequality and racial injustice. After the Tennessee General Assembly sent a letter to state universities and colleges in response to East Tennessee State’s peaceful kneeling protest, Thompson was a co-author of a response to the 27 lawmakers who signed the letter, defending students’ – and student-athletes’ – right to protest under the First Amendment.
Has also volunteered in the community with various service projects, including tornado cleanup in spring 2020, and a blanket service project for homeless members of the Cookeville community.
The Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award is being awarded for the 22nd time in 2021. Thompson is the third Tennessee Tech student-athlete to earn the award, joining Grant Swallows (2001-02) and Beth Boden (2007-08).
Other OVC student-athletes nominated for the award included Austin Peay's
Fabienne Schmidt (tennis), Belmont's
Julie Garst (soccer), Eastern Illinois'
Cole Hoover (football), Eastern Kentucky's
Zoe Mihalicz (softball), Jacksonville State's
Bethany Randall (beach volleyball), Morehead State's
Olivia Lohmeier (volleyball), Murray State's
Izzy Heckman (soccer), Southeast Missouri's
Kaitlyn Shea (track and field), Tennessee State's
Michael Thompson (track and field) and UT Martin's
Nick Wolf (golf).