• All-Time OVC Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award Winners
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - Morehead State rifle student-athlete
Hayden Bell has been selected as the male recipient of the 2025-26 Ohio Valley Conference Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award.
The award is given annually to one male and one female Ohio Valley Conference 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.
The female winner, Western Illinois basketball player Addi Brownfield, was announced on Thursday.
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).
Bell was the 2026 OVC Air Rifle Champion, shooting a school record 598 with 53 center shots in besting the field. His performance helped MSU to the Smallbore Team Championship for just the second time in program history. Bell earned first-team All-OVC honors in both smallbore and air rifle. Bell also scored the best aggregate total of all the shooters during the OVC Championship with a 1179 and 86 total center targets, which was a career-best aggregate scorecard. In 2025 Bell qualified for the NCAA Championships and in 2024 he competed in the International Shooting Sport Federation's (ISSF) Junior World Championships in Lima, Peru.
In the classroom he has a 3.85 GPA in mathematics and earned the prestigious OVC Scholar-Athlete Award earlier this year. Bell has been named to each the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll, the CSC Academic All-District Team and the CRCA Scholastic All-American Team on multiple occasions. He also earned MSU's Laughlin-Miller Award, which is the most prestigious accolade for all student-athletes in the department.
Bell, a native of Bixby, Oklahoma, has served as a senator in the Student Government Association (SGA) and is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). He was instrumental in the rifle team winning the department's Penny Wars competition, which helped raise money for the OVC Hoops For Heroes program. He earned the OVC Community Service Award in 2024-25 and has volunteered with local elementary schools, at a domestic abuse shelter, a local food bank and as part of Athletes in Action.
The Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award is being awarded for the 27th time in 2026. Bell is the third MSU student-athlete to earn the honor joining Kandi Brown (2003-04) and MacKenzie Neal (2023-24).
Other OVC male student-athletes nominated for the award included Eastern Illinois'
Brett Galletti (football), Lindenwood's
Josh Newell (baseball), Little Rock's
Rhett South (golf), Southeast Missouri's
Sullivan Gleason (track & field) and Western Illinois'
Jackson Rodgers (baseball).