National Football Foundation Honors Bill Sylvester
INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Former Butler head football coach and
athletic director Bill Sylvester has been named recipient of the
Distinguished American Award from the National Football
Foundation/College Hall of Fame Central Indiana Chapter. He
will receive his award at the organization’s annual banquet
at the Indianapolis Colts Complex on Feb. 23.
Sylvester is one of the legendary figures of Butler football.
He was a four-year starting quarterback for the Bulldogs, 1946-49,
and later served as an assistant football coach under Hall of Fame
coach Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle. Sylvester became
Butler’s head football coach in 1970, and he went on to lead
the Bulldogs to six conference championships and one NCAA Division
II playoff appearance, the first in Butler history. He was
named conference “Coach of the Year” three times and
NCAA Regional “Coach of the Year” once. He
stepped down as Butler’s football coach in the summer of
1985, finishing his career with an 84-65-2 record. His 84
wins still stands second all-time at Butler.
Named athletic director at Butler in 1975, Sylvester played an
integral role in bringing the 1980 NCAA Division I Basketball
Championship to Indianapolis. He also played a major role in
the formation of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and in the
reorganization of the Indiana Collegiate Conference into the
Heartland Collegiate Conference. He further was actively
involved in the formation of the Midwest Intercollegiate Football
Conference and the North Star Conference for women’s
athletics.
Well-respected in the collegiate athletic realm, Sylvester served
as a president of the MCC and the Indiana Intercollegiate Coaches
Association. He was chairman of the NCAA Division II Football
Committee, and he served on the American Football Coaches
Association All-American selection board. He also served as
the first permanent commissioner of the Midwest Intercollegiate
Football Conference, which later named its championship trophy the
William L. Sylvester Trophy in his honor.
During the spring of 1990, Sylvester was named “Man of the
Year” by the Indianapolis Old-Timers Club.
The National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award is
among the highest offered by the organization. Each year the
NFF/College Football Hall of Fame pays tribute to a select few with
awards of excellence for exhibiting superior qualities of
scholarship, citizenship and leadership. The Distinguished
American Award is presented on special occasions to someone who has
applied the character building attributes learned from amateur
sport in their business and personal life, exhibiting superior
leadership qualities in education, amateur athletics, business and
in the community.
Previous recipients of the award include Indiana football legends
Bill Lynch, Stewart “Red” Faught, Lamar Lundy, Jim
Belden, Dick Dullaghan, Nick Mourouzis, Bill Mallory, Bob
Terpening, Bill Bless, Dave Land, Bob Hicks, Max Andress, Jerry
Brewer, Wayne Perry and Bob Springer.
