Ms. Shriya Garg of Rome High School and Parker Miles of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School have been named as the two recipients of the four-year scholarship of $1000 per year at the College Football Hall of Fame on May 13^th. These two recipients will also each receive $500 to donate to the charitable organization of their choice. Honored guests Barbara Dooley and daughter Denise Dooley Mitchell attended the ceremony, with Mrs. Dooley encouraging the student-athletes in attendance to follow the lead of the late Coach Dooley to always seek ways to serve others.  Georgia High School Association Executive Director Dr. Robin Hines also offered inspirational remarks. Ms. Heather Catlin of WSB-TV Sports served as master of ceremonies.
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Professional Division

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SCHOLARSHIP FINALISTS ANNOUNCED!

Female Athletes

Male Athletes

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Save the Date for the evening Virtual Ceremony!

The 18th Annual Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, an award given to the most outstanding role models among athletes, has announced the honorees for its 2023 award ceremony, to be held April 27^th in a virtual ceremony. Leading the night’s honorees will be the Professional Division recipients Nancy Lieberman and Joakim Noah. Nationally selected Collegiate and High School athletes will also be awarded for their commitment to athletics, academics, and citizenship.
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Nancy “Lady Magic” Lieberman is a true pioneer in women’s sports. She was recognized as one of the top 40 female athletes of the last 40 years by both ESPN and Sports Illustrated. Her extensive resume includes being the second woman in history to coach in the NBA, becoming the Assistant Coach for the Sacramento Kings in 2015. Lieberman has been a WNBA player and coach, a BIG3 Head Coach, a WNBA general manager, president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, a sports broadcaster for ABC, NBC, ESPN, and FOX Sports Southwest, a motivational speaker, and an author. In addition, she is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, and the Hampton Roads Hall of Fame. She is also a BIG3 Champion, two-time Olympian as the youngest male or female basketball playing Silver Medalist at age 18, three-time All American, two-time collegiate national champion, and a two-time National Player of the Year at Old Dominion University. The Nancy Lieberman Award is given to the most outstanding female point guard in NCAA Division I Basketball.

Guiding youngsters and helping the disadvantaged has always been a passion for Lieberman, and through this philosophy, The Nancy Lieberman Charities was born. Education and wellness is at the heart of the many programs that the Charities provide, including educational college scholarships, basketball camps and clinics, Laptops, Back-2-School Backpacks, plus building Dream Courts across the nation which currently number 84 courts serving over 3.6 million children.

In addition to Lieberman’s impressive charity work, Lieberman has supported and participated in numerous national charities throughout the country. Lieberman sits on the Board of Governors for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and The NBA Retired Players Association. She also served on the 2013 NCAA Final Four Organizing Committee in Dallas, and on the 2014 Super Bowl Steering Committee in New York.

Joakim Noah played 13 years in the NBA (nine with the Chicago Bulls). He was a two-time NBA All-Star (2013/2014), 2014 All-NBA 1st team Center, and 2014 Defensive Player of the Year. He was the 2015 winner of the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award.

In 2010, along with his mother, the artist Cecilia Rodhe, Joakim started the Noah’s Arc Foundation, which aims to give youth a stronger sense of self using art and sports as tools for development. Noah’s Arc has worked extensively with youth in Chicago, as well as Joakim’s father Yannick’s hometown of Yaounde, Cameroon. The foundation continues to operate in Chicago and in West Africa to this day.

Joakim officially retired from the NBA in 2021 and was named a Community Ambassador for the Chicago Bulls, partnering with the organization to effect positive change in the city of Chicago. In 2021, Joakim was one of a select group of NBA Legends who invested in NBA Africa, a group that will conduct the league’s business throughout the continent and aims to grow the sport of basketball in Africa on all levels.

In 2022, Joakim was named an Ambassador for the Basketball Africa League, highlighting his vision and commitment to the African diaspora on a global level.

The 18th Annual Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, an award given to the most outstanding role models among athletes, has announced the collegiate honorees for its 2023 award ceremony to be held April 27th at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.  They join Professional recipients Nancy Lieberman and Joakim Noah, plus Abby Hughes and Cody Hagen from the national high school ranks.
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Congratulations to the College student-athletes and their school communities who have been named College Finalists for the 2023 Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup! The announcement of the one male and one female College Cup recipients will be made during the first week of January, 2023.  Planning will then commence for the April 27, 2023 evening ceremony at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
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The Second Annual ABW Golf Tournament conducted on November 28^th at Country Club of Roswell was an outstanding success as noted by the players and sponsors. Proceeds from the event will benefit the ABW college scholarship fund. Workday was the Title Sponsor, and the Silver Sponsors were Invisors, Macrospect, and Slalom. Golfers enjoyed a challenging round of golf on a beautiful day with networking opportunities plus a wonderful golfers’ Clubhouse reception with gifts and prizes.

Click here to View the photo gallery

Questions?  Contact Brad Catherman, Executive Director, at bcatherman@abw.org

Athletes for a Better World (ABW) mourns the passing and celebrates the life of Vince Dooley who died at home on Friday, October 28th at age 90, surrounded by wife Barbara and their four children. Dooley was Board Director Emeritus of ABW, and Chairman of the Vincent J. Dooley Awards & Scholarships program begun by ABW in 2008. The Dooley Awards are presented to one male and one female athlete in every high school in the state of Georgia for excellence on and off the field while mirroring the ABW Code for Living. All high school award recipients are then considered for the statewide scholarships that are conferred upon one male and one female athlete each year, regardless of their sport. The annual spring awards event is held at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta where Dooley was inducted in 1995 for his coaching achievements.

Dooley’s philanthropic efforts were wide ranging inside and outside of athletics. In recognition of these selfless accomplishments, he was awarded the Professional division Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup in 2016 by ABW. The latter award recognizes exemplary character in all sports within Professional, Collegiate and High School divisions on a national basis. Dooley often attributed his inspiration to two legendary sports icons and role models, basketball Coach John Wooden and baseball great Stan Musial.

While coaching the Georgia Bulldogs, Dooley is the winningest football coach with 201 victories, six SEC titles and the 1980 national championship in his 25 years (1964-1988). He was also an award-winning athletic director at Georgia (1979-2004).

Dooley has been the recipient of countless awards, including the highest national awards in coaching and in athletic administration encompassing the Bear Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, the Duffy Daugherty Memorial Award, the James J. Corbett Memorial Award, the John L. Toner Award, and the Homer Rice Award. He is the only person ever to hold the presidency of both the American Football Coaches Association and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, plus the only person inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in two states, Georgia and Alabama. He was twice named NCAA National Coach of the Year, SEC Coach of the Year seven times, and NCAA District Coach of the Year six times. His football legacy was completed with his election to the National College Football Hall of Fame.

Read more about the legacy of Vince Dooley and ABW. Go Dawgs!