LHU's Shorthouse Wins PSAC Sportsmanship Award
Lock Haven, Pa. – Lock Haven University's
Bobby Shorthouse has been named the PSAC Sportsmanship Award winner, as selected by PSAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee leadership.
During the Bucknell Team Challenge, Shorthouse was credited with a 6.71m attempt in the long jump. After hearing the score, Shorthouse went up to official Jeff Johnson and said, “I didn’t jump 6.71. I wish I could jump 6.71 meters, but there’s no way I jumped that far.”
Johnson checked an official’s marks for the first two attempts and concluded that Shorthouse indeed did not jump as far as initially indicated. Shorthouse was given an opportunity to retry his final jump, and he landed outside of the top eight. The jump of 6.71 would have advanced him to the finals and earned points for his team.
When Johnson thanked Shorthouse for his honesty, Shorthouse simply said, “I knew I didn’t jump that far, and I couldn’t take the place of someone else in the finals that deserved to be there.”
The PSAC Sportsmanship Award, now in its seventh year, is given annually to the person who best exemplifies the spirit of sportsmanship and who has demonstrated the values of respect and integrity through a specific action.
A nominee must also have represented his/her institution in a positive way during competition and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of competition by fostering a good public image.
At the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year, the PSAC Sportsmanship Award was implemented by the PSAC SAAC. Nominations for the award may be submitted by any PSAC school personnel, including administrators, coaches, and student-athletes. Nominations are voted on by members of PSAC SAAC.
The PSAC Sportsmanship Award mirrors the NCAA Sportsmanship Awards. The NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct selects one male and one female student-athlete or team from each Division (I, II, III). The NCAA divisional winners will be released in late July.