Kansas City, Mo. — The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced the conference recipients of the Dr. LeRoy Walker Champions of Character Award.
Joe Mitzel of Montana Tech was named the Frontier Conference winner and nominee for the national honor.
The award is named after Dr. Walker, President emeritus of the United States Olympic Committee who served as president through the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games and former president of the NAIA.
The Dr. LeRoy Walker Award is one of the most prestigious honors given out by the NAIA. The award recognizes a student-athlete who excels in athletics and academics and is committed to the Champions of Character program’s five core values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.
Mitzel is a defensive back on the Oredigger football team majoring in Environmental Engineering. In the classroom, he is one of the top academic performers on the team with a 3.93 GPA. Mitzel is the recipient of a number of academic honors including Frontier Academic All-Conference, Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete, and the Montana Tech Dean’s List every year. He has been a finalist for a number of scholarships including the Barry M. Goldwater and the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute O’Connor Scholarship.
Mitzel is a valued participant in the Tech student community as well. He is the Vice President of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society as well as the Environmental Engineers of Montana Tech. When he isn’t studying and playing football, he is tutoring other students in chemistry and math.
This is the third straight year a Montana Tech student-athlete has received the award. Mitzel follows Brianne McClafferty and Ivan Sljivar who received the award the last two years.
Mitzel is now eligible for the national NAIA Dr. LeRoy Walker Champions of Character Award. The recipient of the national honor is recognized at the NAIA Awards Dinner held at the 2013 NAIA Convention later this year.
— Montana Tech Sports Information
