Dave Gavitt ’59 to Receive Inaugural Tom Jernstedt Lifetime Achievement Award

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Sports Corp will posthumously honor Dave Gavitt, a member of the Dartmouth Class of 1959, with the inaugural 2023 Tom Jernstedt Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be presented at the NCAA 2023 Men's Final Four on Monday, April 3 in Houston, Texas. Others to receive the award will be Jim Delany, widely known for his time as the commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, and the late C.M. Newton, who was a college basketball head coach for more than 30 years and served as Kentucky's athletics director from 1989-2000.

Gavitt made his start in college basketball as a member of the Dartmouth basketball team for three years (1956-59), helping the Big Green win their last two Ivy League titles in 1958 and '59. During his career, he 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, including eight consecutive 20-win 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 served on the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee from 1980-84, and as the chair for the committee for the 1982, '83 and '84 championships. During his time on the men's basketball committee, the bracket expanded to 48 teams in 1980, 52 teams in '83 and 53 teams in '84. In addition, the NCAA registered the trademark for the term "Final Four" in 1981, the NCAA tournament Selection Show was shown on national television for the first time in 1982, and the committee determined that the minimum capacity for a venue to host a Final Four was 17,000 in 1983.

Gavitt was also known for his contributions to Olympic basketball. 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 from 1988-92, Gavitt oversaw the introduction of NBA players onto the U.S. roster, including the Dream Team in 1992.

In addition, Gavitt was CEO of the Boston Celtics from 1990-94, President of the NCAA Foundation from 1995-97, and Chairman of the Board of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame until 2003. Gavitt was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006, and his legacy is honored through the Gavitt Tipoff Games, which began in 2015 and is an annual early-season series between the Big East Conference and Big Ten Conference. Gavitt passed away at the age of 73 on September 16, 2011.

An inaugural member of Dartmouth's Wearers of the Green in 1984, Gavitt was recognized posthumously as a Legend of Ivy League Basketball by the conference in 2019.

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