The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award was an annual

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

award in the United States intended to honor players who excelled on the court in spite of their height. The award, named in honor of

James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...

's daughter-in-law, was established for men in 1969 and for women in 1984. The men's award was presented to the nation's most outstanding senior who stands 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) or shorter, while the women's award was presented to the top senior who is 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) or shorter. Early in the women's award's history, the cut-off height was . The men's award was selected by a panel from the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...

(NABC), while the women's was selected by the

Women's Basketball Coaches Association The Women's Basketball Coaches Association is an association of coaches of women's basketball teams at all levels. The organization was formed in 1981, with the goal of addressing the needs of women's basketball coaches. The mission of the WBC ...

(WBCA). The award was discontinued following the 2013–14 season. Both the men's and women's winners were generally players in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

. For the men's side, John Rinka from

Kenyon College Kenyon College ( ) is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private instituti ...

(1970), Mike Scheib from Susquehanna University (1978) and Jerry Johnson from Florida Southern College (1988) won from NCAA Divisions II, III, and II, respectively. For the women's winners, Julie Dabrowski of New Hampshire College (now

Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with ...

) (1990) and Amy Dodrill (1995) and Angie Arnold (1998), both from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, were also winners from Division III. Only three schools from the list of men's winners (

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, St. John's and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

) and six schools from the list of women's winners ( Baylor, Gonzaga,

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

, Notre Dame,

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

, and UConn) had multiple award winners. Of these programs, the only one with winners in consecutive seasons is the Louisville men's program ( Peyton Siva in 2013 and Russ Smith in 2014). Six other schools have had winners of both the men's and women's awards:

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Eastern Michigan, NC State, Purdue,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, and Wake Forest.

Key

Winners

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frances Awards established in 1969 Awards established in 1984 Awards disestablished in 2014 College basketball trophies and awards in the United States 1969 establishments in the United States 2014 disestablishments in the United States