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#CSCUNITE23 Annual Convention Home
College Sports Communicators announces Academic All-America Hall of Fame Class of 2023
by Laurie Bollig – College Sports Communicators, Director of Membership Engagement
A standout college baseball pitcher who commanded a nuclear submarine, a former Power 5 commissioner and NFL executive, a highly decorated women’s basketball player and coach, and a standout soccer player-turned executive and senior business advisor highlight the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
This year’s class includes the following quartet.
Andrew Cain holds multiple career pitching records at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and captained one of only 71 nuclear submarines in the US Naval fleet.
Kevin Warren, a 1,000-point scorer for Grand Canyon University, served as the Big Ten Conference commissioner before returning to the NFL as the new president and CEO of the Chicago Bears.
Lindsay Whalen, a three-time All-American and conference player of the year, led the University of Minnesota to the 2004 NCAA Women’s Final Four and returned as the Golden Gophers’ head coach after an all-star WNBA career.
Rick Miller, an accomplished goalkeeper, finished his soccer career at Bentley University with a school-record goals-against-average that stands today.
Created in 1988, the Academic All-America Hall of Fame recognizes former Academic All-Americans who received a college degree at least 10 years ago, have achieved lifetime success in their professional careers, and are committed to philanthropic causes. Honorees are chosen each year by a select committee of CSC members, leaders and past Academic All-America Hall of Fame inductees.
"The CSC Academic All-America Hall of Fame Class of 2023 is an outstanding reminder of why the Academic All-America awards program is vitally important to college sports. Student-athletes who excel in athletics and academics go on to lead extraordinary lives of achievement and community service beyond their college playing days,” CSC Executive Director
Erik Christianson said. “Andrew Cain, Rick Miller, Kevin Warren and Lindsay Whalen are former Academic All-Americans who through the life-changing impact of college sports have positively impacted the lives of countless others. We are excited to celebrate these Hall of Famers in June in Orlando at CSC UNITE."
“Induction into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame is truly one of the crowning achievements in the scholastic and athletic career of any student-athlete. We are honored to welcome Andrew, Kevin, Lindsay and Rick as our Class of 2023, as well as our Dick Enberg Award recipient, Tamika Catchings,” said committee chair
Chris Masters, Big Ten Conference Director, Communications. “On behalf of the Academic All-America Hall of Fame Committee, I want to enthusiastically congratulate this year’s inductees and encourage all CSC and NACDA members to join us June 13 at CSC UNITE in Orlando as we celebrate the remarkable successes of our Class of 2023!”
The four inductees into the CSC Academic All-America Hall of Fame will be honored at a luncheon on June 13, 2023, in conjunction with the
#CSCUNITE23 annual convention at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando. ESPN reporter and 2019 Jake Wade Award winner
Holly Rowe will host the event. The
2023 Dick Enberg Award recipient, Tamika Catchings, will also be recognized at the luncheon. Learn more about the Academic All-America Hall of Fame
here.
The 2023 inductees into the CSC Academic All-America Hall of Fame are:
Andrew Cain
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Class of 1999
Baseball
Cain finished his collegiate baseball career as Rose-Hulman's all-time record holder with a 1.99 earned run average and 31 complete games. He ranks second in school history in innings pitched (321.1) and shutouts (7) and third all-time in wins (28) and strikeouts (258). Cain had the best single-season pitching performance in the modern era at Rose-Hulman in 1999, finishing 14-2 with a 1.42 ERA with 15 complete games in 16 starts. In 127 innings pitched that season, he struck out 132 and walked just 16. He was named the 1999 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and a second-team ABCA All-American.
The mechanical engineering major was a member of several honorary fraternities as an undergraduate as well as garnering CSC Academic All-American status in 1999. After graduating from Rose-Hulman, Cain started on his path as a US Navy nuclear submarine officer, where he moved up the chain of command over a 20-year span to become the Commanding Officer of his own ship, one of just 71 such positions in the United States Navy. In 2018, he assumed command of USS HELENA (SSN 715), a fast-attack submarine - a position he held through early 2021. Cain currently is the Military Assistant to the National Nuclear Security Agency Administrator and is slated to be assigned as the Commanding Officer of USS OHIO (SSGN 726G) in the summer of 2024.
Gallery: (4-11-2023) Andrew Cain, 2023 AAA Hall of Fame
Rick Miller
Bentley University, Class of 1980
Soccer (Honorary Inductee)
Miller was a goalkeeper for Bentley from 1976-79. His career statistics include a 1.18 goals against average (still a school record) and 17 shutouts, an average of one every 2.65 games. In his final three seasons, he helped Bentley to a 20-15-4 record. Miller was a team co-captain, a two-time most valuable player and all-New England honoree during his career. He received Bentley’s Edward J. Powers Award as the premier senior scholar-athlete in the class of 1980, overcoming a diagnosis of type-1 diabetes just after his junior year. He was inducted into the Bentley Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987.
Miller graduated summa cum laude in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He was elected to the Falcon Society, Bentley’s highest undergraduate honor society, and attended the Wharton & Spencer Stuart Directors Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his MBA from Columbia University.
Since 2008, Miller has been the President and CEO of Being Chief LLC, where he provides advisory services and leadership coaching for business executives focused on employee, customer, shareowner, and community growth. In 2021, Rick returned to his alma mater as an adjunct professor. He teaches both undergraduate and McCallum Graduate School of Business leadership courses.
Miller’s community service includes serving on the Board of Trustees of the Joslin Diabetes Center and founding the Balance & Stretch Center Inc., an organization that helps other nonprofits be more successful. He has also volunteered with the Morristown Rehabilitation Institute, where he assisted physical therapists working with children stricken with cerebral palsy. He has written two books, one a leadership book and the other a children’s book, with all proceeds going to charity.
Gallery: (4-11-2023) Rick Miller, 2023 AAA Hall of Fame
Kevin Warren
Grand Canyon University, Class of 1986
Basketball
Warren began his collegiate career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the Quakers’ Ivy League championship basketball team in 1982. He transferred to Grand Canyon University and scored 1,118 career points at GCU, an average of 20.0 points per game. He earned CSC Academic All-American honors as a senior along with NAIA academic honors as both a junior and senior. He is one of 25 members of the program's 1,000-point club and was inducted into the GCU Athletics Hall of Fame in March of 2012.
Warren graduated in 1986 with bachelor’s degree in business administration and went on to earn an MBA from Arizona State University in 1988 and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1990. He spent 21 seasons in the NFL, including 15 with the Minnesota Vikings where he served as the chief operating officer, the highest-ranking Black executive working on the business side for a team in the NFL and the first Black COO in NFL history. He also worked in the front offices of the Detroit Lions and the St. Louis Rams, where he was a member of the 1999 Super Bowl winning team.
Warren was named commissioner of the Big Ten Conference in 2019. During his tenure, he led negotiations for groundbreaking media rights deals, helped spearhead the addition of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten Conference, established the Big Ten Mental Health and Wellness Cabinet and was a leader throughout the college sports landscape during the pandemic in the area of social justice.
In January 2023, Warren was named the president and CEO of the Chicago Bears.
In 2012, the Warren family “adopted” Lucy Craft Laney Community School in Minneapolis, by donating over 900 backpacks to students. The Warrens created Carolyn’s Comforts in 2014 in conjunction with the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital and have donated $1 million to a pediatric emergency care fund, to honor the legacy of his sister Carolyn Elaine Warren-Knox who passed away of brain cancer. In 2017, the Warrens launched “No Doors Closed,” a scholarship program selecting high school students from District 191, who will be first-generation college students. The Warrens also started The Warren Family Foundation in 2019. The nonprofit foundation is organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes of educational, literacy, religious, and scientific-medical.
Gallery: (4-11-2023) Kevin Warren, 2023 AAA Hall of Fame
Lindsay Whalen
University of Minnesota, Class of 2006
Basketball
Whalen is the most decorated player in Minnesota history, a career that spanned 2002-04. She was the school’s first three-time All-American selection, and a two-time Wade Trophy and Naismith Award finalist. A three-time unanimous All-Big Ten first-team pick, Whalen was the 2002 Big Ten Player of the Year. When she finished her collegiate career, Whalen was Minnesota's all-time points leader with 2,285 points. She guided Minnesota to three straight NCAA tournament appearances and led the Gophers to the program’s only NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance in 2004. Her No. 13 jersey was retired by Minnesota in 2005. During Whalen’s collegiate career, Minnesota's average attendance rose from 1,087 her freshman season to 9,866 when she was a senior. She was a two-time Minnesota recipient of the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award.
Whalen graduated in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in sport management. She was named a CSC Academic All-American in 2003 and was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Whalen was selected fourth overall by the Connecticut Sun in the 2004 WNBA Draft. She played 15 seasons with the Sun and the Minnesota Lynx, was a four-time WNBA champion with Minnesota and a five-time WNBA All-Star. Whalen was named to the “W25” as one of the 25 greatest players in WNBA history in the league’s 25th season. She was a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S., winning at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
Upon retirement in 2018, Whalen was named the 12th head women’s basketball coach at Minnesota, and recently stepped away from coaching.
She has donated her time and talents to several organizations focused on youth development such as the Timberwolves Lynx Basketball Academy and Athletes Committed to Educating Students (ACES). She previously served on the board of directors for former coach Pam Borton’s Empower Leadership Academy for Girls, and participated in the Minnesota Lynx’s Day of Service initiative, including celebrating the team’s 2017 WNBA title by helping at a Samaritan’s Feet Shoes of Hope distribution in Washington, D.C. As head coach of the Gophers, Whalen organized an annual Dimes for December campaign, raising money to buy gloves, hats, blankets, socks, scarves, and jackets to help the homeless and underprivileged families in the community.
Gallery: (4-11-2023) Lindsay Whalen, 2023 AAA Hall of Fame