Daigle, Gavitt Named Ivy League Legends of Basketball

PRINCETON, N.J. — For the third consecutive year, the Ivy League Legends of Basketball will recognize a distinguished class of 16 individuals who embraced the pursuit of excellence in academics and athletics to make a lasting impact on their respective basketball programs, schools, communities and professions. This year the Dartmouth honorees are Jayne Daigle Jones '86 and the late Dave Gavitt '59.

"The members of the 2019 Legends of Ivy League Basketball highlight the unrivaled experience that our student-athletes receive," said Executive Director Robin Harris. "These incredible individuals accomplished so much, not only on the court and in the classroom, but also in life, and we are proud to honor them at Ivy Madness."

Each Ivy League institution is represented by one male and one female honoree, as selected by their university athletic department. They will all be honored during the semifinals of the 2019 Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, Saturday, March 16, in New Haven, Conn. Click here for tickets and more information on Ivy Madness.

JAYNE DAIGLE JONES '86
Daigle's impressive basketball career at Dartmouth began and ended the same way – with a postseason award and an Ivy League championship.

A four-time All-Ivy first team performer, Daigle Jones (née Daigle) kicked off her career with a bang, earning Rookie of the Year honors and leading the Big Green to the Ivy League title in 1982-83. Dartmouth became the first Ivy team to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, hosting Monmouth in the first round.

Daigle then received Player of the Year as a senior in 1985-86, leading Dartmouth to another Ivy League title. At the time, she was just the third Ivy player to receive Rookie and Player of the Year over the course of a career; that number has since grown to 16.

Daigle is one of only seven players in Ivy League history to receive first-team All-Ivy all four years. In the Big Green records book, she is third on the all-time scoring list with 1,846 points, second in career rebounding with 1,015, second in career scoring average with 18.8 points per game and second with a .516 field goal percentage. Daigle also ranks in the top-10 at Dartmouth in blocked shots (121), field goal percentage (.516), made field goals (768) and made free throws (310). In the Ivy League records book, she is ninth in points, seventh in scoring average, seventh in rebounds, eighth in rebounding average, sixth in field goals and ninth in field goal attempts.

During her Rookie of the Year campaign, Daigle led Dartmouth to an 18-8 record and 11-1 in the Ivy league while averaging a double-double with 17.5 points and 11.5 rebounds. She posted a team-high 58 blocked shots and shot 54.7 percent from the field as the Big Green advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Daigle raised her scoring average in her sophomore season to 21.5 points while pulling down 10.7 rebounds a night. She also boosted her field goal percentage (.636), then passed the 1,000-point plateau early in her junior year while averaging 19.3 points and 10.5 rebounds for the season.

Daigle capped off her historic career with Ivy League Player of the Year honors, posting 17.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game her senior year. Her performance led the Big Green to the Ivy League title for the second time in her four years.

Daigle was inducted into the Dartmouth Wearers of the Green in 1994. She and 15 other women's basketball standouts were named to the Ivy League Silver Anniversary Honor Roll during the League's celebration of 25 years of women's athletics in 1999.

After graduation, Daigle earned her master's of education from Lesley College and spent six years as a special ed elementary teacher. For the past 14 years, she has run an at-home daycare while raising six children with Vernon, her husband of nearly 30 years. Their eldest child graduated from Dartmouth in 2012, and the youngest is now a senior in high school. A deaconess at her church, Daigle has been active with her local schools, serving on the Oxbow High (Vt.) PTO and scholarship committee, and fundraising for various school trips with the Piermont (N.H.) school district over the last dozen years to Washington, D.C.

DAVE GAVITT '59
Gavitt's basketball career included impressive accomplishments as a player, a coach, and an administrator.

The founder of the Big East Conference, former president of USA Basketball and a member of the Dartmouth Class of 1959, the late Dave Gavitt was a member of the last two Big Green men's basketball Ivy League championship teams in 1958 and '59.

During his Dartmouth career, Gavitt scored 320 points and grabbed 128 rebounds as the Big Green won 62 games and lost just 18 in his three seasons. The point guard earned a reputation as one of the top sixth men in the country, leading Dartmouth in assists, helping the team advance to the East Regional final during his junior campaign and returning to the NCAA Tournament the following year.

After serving two years as an assistant coach at Providence, he returned to his alma mater in 1966-67 as the freshman coach, only to be thrust into the head coaching role of the varsity team when the legendary Doggie Julian suffered a stroke in the middle of the season. The following season he was named the New England Coach of the Year by both United Press International and the New England Basketball Writers' Association for his efforts in rebuilding the Big Green team.

Gavitt returned to Providence in 1969 as the Friars head coach, a position he held for 10 seasons while compiling a .713 winning percentage (209-84) that still ranks as the best in program history. Two years later, he became the school's athletics director, then led the basketball team to the Final Four in 1973, one of five years that Providence played in the NCAA Tournament during his tenure. He also served on the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee for four years (1980-84), chairing the committee the last two of those years when the tournament expanded to 64 teams and signed its first contract with CBS.

The driving force behind the formation of the Big East Conference in 1979, Gavitt served as its first commissioner until 1990 as the league established itself as one of the nation's premier conferences. He was selected as the head coach of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Basketball team, which did not compete in Moscow due to the U.S. boycott. But during his term as president of USA Basketball, Gavitt oversaw the introduction of NBA players onto the U.S. roster, including the Dream Team in 1992.

Gavitt went on to become the CEO of the Boston Celtics in 1990, then the team's Vice Chairman of the Board in 1994. From 1995-97, he also served as President of the NCAA Foundation.

An inaugural member of Dartmouth's Wearers of the Green in 1984, Gavitt was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

Gavitt, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 73, had two sons with his wife, Julie — Dan and Corey. Dan, a member of the Dartmouth Class of 1988, is currently the NCAA senior vice president of basketball after serving seven years as the associate commissioner of the Big East Conference, and before that, the athletics director at Bryant University.

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Daigle, Gavitt Named Ivy League Legends of Basketball

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