Former TCU AD Windegger Receives National Honor
4/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | General
April 5, 2012
The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) have selected former TCU Director of Athletics and NACDA Past President Frank Windegger as the recipient of the 46th James J. Corbett Memorial Award.
The Corbett Award is presented annually to the collegiate administrator who "through the years has most typified Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment." Corbett, athletics director at LSU, was NACDA's first president in 1965. The award is the highest honor one can achieve in collegiate athletics administration.
Additionally, Windegger will receive an honorary degree from the Sports Management Institute (SMI), an educational institute sponsored by NACDA and the universities of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Southern California and Texas.
"Receiving the James J. Corbett Award is an amazing honor and I am grateful to those who named me as a recipient," said Windegger. "This has been a surprising and appreciated culmination to a fulfilling career. I have been very fortunate to spend my life working in such a rewarding field. My years in NACDA are some of the best years of my life."
Windegger began his career at TCU as a student-athlete in 1953, when he was the first recruit signed by legendary former football coach Abe Martin. In addition to playing football for the Horned Frogs, Windegger also enjoyed a career as a star pitcher on the baseball team.
After graduating in 1957, Windegger spent two years in the Army and had a brief stint as a high school coach before returning to campus to take over the baseball program in 1962. His 14-year tenure was at the time the most successful in TCU history, as he compiled a career record of 298-166-1 (.641). In 1963, at the age of 28, Windegger became the youngest coach to ever to win a Southwest Conference title. In addition to coaching baseball, he simultaneously served as the ticket manager, athletics business manager and assistant athletics director before succeeding Abe Martin as the AD in 1975.
Over his two-plus decades as athletics director, Windegger built a solid all-sports program. The men's tennis team was nationally ranked 23 times in 25 years, the women's golf team captured a national championship and the men's basketball team captured a pair of SWC titles. Nationally, he was prominent on NCAA and SWC committees and is now a member of various Halls of Fame, including NACDA and the TCU Lettermen's Association. The TCU gallery in the Southwest Conference wing of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame is named in honor of Windegger.
"The Corbett Award is especially meaningful as it puts me in the company of many outstanding individuals who have given so much to intercollegiate athletics," Windegger said. "It is a distinguishing honor to be recognized by your peers."
