INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Bill and Teresa Massoels of Saint Joseph’s College as this year’s recipients of the Dr. Thomas Kearns Service Award, it was announced Wednesday by the Conference office.
Both will be formally recognized at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car GLVC Spring Awards Reception in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 23.
The Dr. Thomas Kearns Service Award is presented to an individual or group that has contributed to the success of the GLVC as it relates to the NCAA Division II attributes of learning, balance, resourcefulness, sportsmanship, passion and service.
A former Saint Joseph’s cross country and track and field student-athlete in the mid-1980s, Bill has served his alma mater in a variety of roles since 1990. He has contributed as Associate Director of Athletics, Director of Compliance, Sports Information Director, head coach of the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs, and a professor in the College’s Physical Education Department. He has served as the school’s Athletics Director since 1999, while doubling as cross country and track and field coach – a position in which he has mentored 26 All-Americans.
During his tenure, Bill has served on numerous GLVC and NCAA committees, including the national chair of the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field Committee. He has also served five years on the Baseball Midwest Region Appointment Committee (RAC). At the Conference level, Bill has often been the league’s point person for matters relating to cross country and track and field, having aided the growth of those six league sports in recent years. At the GLVC Championships, when coaches convene following the meet, Bill has assisted the Conference by administering the meeting and coordinating with the GLVC staff to tabulate the results of the postseason honors. In addition, he has spent time on the GLVC Steering Committee and has served two terms on the GLVC Awards Committee, including his current stint in which he was specifically appointed by the league staff.
Saint Joseph’s was also where Bill continued to date his high school sweetheart and future bride, Teresa, whom after graduating from SJC became a professor and the school’s Faculty Athletics Representative for the GLVC – a position she still holds today.
Teresa began at Saint Joseph’s as a volleyball student-athlete, playing for three years, and has since been teaching at the college since 1996 when she started her career in the Computer Science Division. In the fall of 2002, she moved over to the Business Administration Division where she started teaching Marketing Research, Sales, and Principles of Management and Marketing. Throughout the years, Teresa has also been a member of the school’s Core Program. She is a two-term Vice Chair of the GLVC Steering Committee and has served on multiple GLVC Peer Reviews at the request of the Conference office. She also volunteers her services to the Conference office at every GLVC Cross Country/Track and Field Championships she attends.
The GLVC Service Award is named in honor of Dr. Thomas Kearns, who was Northern Kentucky’s faculty athletic representative for 23 years and provided unparalleled service to the GLVC during that period. Kearns served the GLVC as both treasurer and president during his tenure at NKU and assisted with the budget reporting system and the current revenue sharing policy. He spearheaded the league’s first major expansion, wrote the GLVC Hall of Fame guidelines, served on the initial GLVC Awards Committee and developed and maintained the GLVC Handbook. Kearns spent countless hours developing the GLVC into one of the premier NCAA Division II athletic conferences.
The award was first presented in 2011 to Northern Kentucky’s Kevin Listerman, and has since been awarded to SIU Edwardsville’s Eric Hess (2012), USI’s David and Lois Stevens (2013), Kentucky Wesleyan’s Roy Pickerill (2014), USI’s Ray and Cindy Bippus (2015), and Doug McCarty and Dan Cunningham (2016) of the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois.