Eddleman Award History | @IlliniAthletics
Champaign, Ill. – The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) announced Wednesday that volleyball standout Jacqueline Quade and basketball star Ayo Dosunmu are recipients of the 2019-20 Dike Eddleman Awards, which are presented annually to the top Fighting Illini female and male athlete. The recipients were selected by vote of Illinois head coaches, DIA executive staff and the DIA athletics awards committee.
Quade is the third-straight Eddleman winner from volleyball, following up two-time winner Jordyn Poulter. It marks the 11th time a volleyball player has been named Eddleman Female Athlete of the Year since it was first handed out in 1977. She joins three-time winner Mary Eggers (1987, '88, '89), Laura Bush (1990), Tina Rogers (1994), Christy Chapman (1999), Colleen Ward (2012), Jocelynn Birks (2016) and Poulter (2018 & '19) as volleyball Eddleman Award winners.
Dosunmu is the 18th men's basketball Eddleman Award recipient and the first since Deron Williams in 2005. On the men's side, the Eddleman Athlete of the Year Award dates back to 1940. Other notable men's track & field recipients include Whiz Kid Andy Phillip (1942 & '43), award namesake Dike Eddleman (1948 & '49), Dave Scholz (1969 & '70), Kendall Kill (1990), and Williams (2005).
As Fighting Illini Athletes of the Year, Dosunmu and Quade become Illinois' nominees for Big Ten Athlete of the Year honors, which will be announced later this spring.
The Eddleman Athlete of the Year finalists are usually recognized at the annual Oskee Awards, with the winners announced following the completion of the spring seasons. However due to the COVID-19 pandemic that ended the 2019-20 athletic seasons early, this year's ceremony was canceled. Even without the Oskee Awards celebration, the academic and on-field achievements of Fighting Illini student-athletes are still being recognized by @IlliniAthletics and on fightingillini.com:
May 8 » Academic and miscellaneous honors
May 11 » Fighting Illini Spirit Awards
May 12 » Illinois Freshmen of the Year
May 13 » Dike Eddleman Athletes of the Year
May 14 » Big Ten Medal of Honor
JACQUELINE QUADE | 2020 Eddleman Female Athlete of the Year
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AVCA All-America Honorable Mention
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AVCA All-Northeast Region
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First-team All-Big Ten
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Big Ten/Pac-12 All-Tournament Team
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Led the Illini to their third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance after pacing the Big Ten and ranking 32nd in the NCAA with 4.21 kills per set, totaling 497 kills on a .214 hitting percentage
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Served up the fourth-most aces in the conference with 44 and ranked fifth with 0.37 aces per set, while registering a conference-leading 568.5 points on the season to rank 20th in the nation
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Tallied 10 double-doubles as well as posting eight 20-kill matches
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Finished career ranked third all-time with 1,791 kills and fourth with 2,016 points and 4,722 attacks, while sitting 10th all-time with 485 sets played
AYO DOSUNMU | 2020 Eddleman Male Athlete of the Year
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First-team All-Big Ten by league media and Associated Press, becoming the first Illini player in 10 years to earn a spot on the conference's five-player first team
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U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-District V Team
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Led Illinois to its most Big Ten wins (13) since 2005 and the program's first top-25 ranking (No. 21) in the final season poll since 2006.
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Jay Bilas Co-National Player of the Week (Jan. 27) after scoring career-high 27 points and hitting game-winning jumper with five-tenths of a second left at Michigan and recording double-double with 18 points and career-high 11 assists in win at Purdue
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Big Ten Player of the Week (Feb. 24) after scoring game-high 24 points, including floater with 16 seconds left, to seal win at No. 9 Penn State
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Led team and ranked fifth in the Big Ten in scoring at 16.6 ppg and had eight 20+ point performances
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Averaged 19.7 points over the last six games and 18.1 points over his last 15 contests, scoring at least 15 points 13 times
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First Illini player in 20 years to lead the team in scoring in back-to-back seasons as a freshman and sophomore
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Season cut short due to COVID-19
2019-20 Dike Eddleman Athlete of the Year Nominees
Female Eddleman Nominees (8)
Allison McGrath, Cross Country
Taylor Shegos, Diving
Tristyn Nowlin, Golf
Shaylah Scott, Gymnastics
Kelly Maday, Soccer
Bella Loya, Softball
Chisom Nwoko, Track & Field
Jacqueline Quade, Volleyball
Male Eddleman Nominees (7)
Ayo Dosunmu, Basketball
Irwin Loud, Cross Country
Dele Harding, Football
Michael Feagles, Golf
Danny Graham, Gymnastics
Jonathan Wells, Track & Field
Travis Piotrowski, Wrestling
THE DIKE EDDLEMAN AWARD
The University of Illinois Athlete of the Year was first awarded in 1940. The award was given annually until it was discontinued for a brief period in 1973. Since 1983, the University of Illinois has recognized both a Male and Female Athlete of the Year. In 1993, the awards were named in honor of the 11-time UI letterman and former Olympian Dwight "Dike" Eddleman, who is generally considered the greatest athlete in the history of Illinois athletics. Eddleman participated in basketball, football and track & field in 1943 and 1946-49, earning a combined 11 varsity letters in his career..
Dosunmu and Quade join the list of all-time Fighting Illini greats who have been bestowed the Eddleman Award, including names like Dike Eddleman himself (football, basketball and track, 1948 & '49), Dick Butkus (football, 1964 & '65), Nancy Thies (gymnastics, 1977), Craig Virgin (track and cross country, 1977), Tony Eason (football, 1982 & '83), Mary Eggers (volleyball, 1987-89), Kendall Gill (basketball, 1990), Renee Slone (Heiken) (golf, 1991 & '92), Tonya Williams (track, 1995-96), Ashley Berggren (basketball, 1997 & '98), Perdita Felicien (track, 2001-03), Justin Spring (gymnastics, 2004 & '06), Deron Williams (basketball, 2005), Kevin Anderson (tennis, 2007), Angela Bizzarri (track and cross country, 2008-10), Paul Ruggeri (gymnastics, 2009), Scott Langley (golf, 2010), Andrew Riley (track, 2011 & '12), Janelle Flaws (soccer, 2014), Tyler Jay (baseball, 2015), Isaiah Martinez (wrestling, 2016 & '17), and Jordyn Poulter (volleyball, 2018 & '19).
Dike Eddleman Athlete of the Year History
