Simpson Earns Big 12 Sportsperson of the Year Award

Dallas, Texas -- Nebraska gymnast Richelle Simpson was named the 2005 Big 12 Female Sportsperson of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday. Simpson and Texas football player Ahmard Hall, who was the Male Sportsperson of the Year, were chosen by a panel of conference administrators and media who cover the Big 12 throughout the year. The duo will be honored at an awards ceremony in conjunction with the 2005 Dr Pepper Big 12 Football Championship on Dec. 3, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The 2003 NCAA all-around and floor exercise champion, Simpson was a nine-time All-American gymnast at Nebraska. She was an eight-time conference champion, most recently during the 2005 season when she won the all-around, balance beam and floor exercise titles at the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla., and was honored as a 12-time All-Big 12 selection. In addition, Simpson, who was the NCAA South Central Regional Gymnast of the Year in 2003 and 2005, led the Huskers to a first-ever No. 1 ranking in 2005 and a sixth-place finish at the NCAA  Championships in Auburn, Ala. With her outstanding leadership, NU won Big 12 team championships in three of the last four years.

While earning success in the gym, Simpson garnered numerous accolades in the classroom as well. The Toronto, Ontario, native was a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-American and first-team academic all-district VII honoree in 2005. As Nebraska’s first AAI American Award winner, Simpson earned prestigious postgraduate scholarships from both the NCAA and the Big 12 Conference. She was also the 2005 Nebraska Female Student-Athlete of the Year and was recognized as a three-time academic All-Big 12 team member. In addition, Simpson devoted considerable time to countless charitable organizations in the Lincoln community, serving as a volunteer with Safe Quarters, the TeamSpiritHospital program and was a guest speaker at schools for local youth. Simpson graduated with her bachelor’s degree in French and international studies this past May.

Simpson becomes the second Nebraska female student-athlete to win the award in the last five years, joining former NU volleyball player Laura Pilakowski who claimed the honor in 2003.  Nebraska student-athletes have captured four of the first 10 Big 12 Sportsperson-of-the-Year awards with two male winners in addition to the two female honorees.  Former NU football player Dan Alexander won the inaugural men's award in 2001, while former Husker baseball player Jeff Leise captured the male honor in 2003.

This is the fifth year the Big 12 has awarded Sportsperson-of-the-Year honors. Nominated by league’s athletic departments, the honorees were chosen based on the following criteria: (1) must be a member of an intercollegiate athletic team during the 2004-05 academic year; (2) must be in good academic standing; (3) must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of a sports-competition setting; (4) must have demonstrated consistently good sportsmanship and ethical conduct in his/her daily participation in intercollegiate athletics; and (5) noteworthy act or acts of sportsmanship must have occurred during the 2004-05 academic year.