Gruber Named William L. Lumpkin Leadership Award Honoree
05/02/2016 | Cross Country, Women's Track & Field
UNIVERSIYT OF RICHMOND, Va. - The William L. Lumpkin Track & Field Leadership Award is presented to a senior undergraduate member of the University of Richmond cross country/track & field team based on outstanding academic and athletic performance, and citizenship.
The Lumpkin Leadership Award was established in 1997 in memory of former Spiders Coach Dr. William L. Lumpkin by University of Richmond alumni on the 1948-49 cross country team that Lumpkin coached.
The 2016 recipient is Tim Gruber, an outstanding university leader and distance runner for the Spiders. The senior from Huntersville, N.C. was named the Spiders' 2015 Male Athlete of the Year for the cross country team. During his career he placed sixth in the Penn Relays Olympic Development 10,000 meters. At the 2015 Collegiate Running Association 10K National Road Race Championship he placed fifth out of over 2,000 college students and nearly 29,000 total runners and he won the 2014 Cross Country Only National Invitational, leading the Spiders to the team victory.
Off the racecourse Tim was honored and recognized with the Colonel Thomas Branch McAdams Award by Richmond College within the University for making the “most outstanding contribution to the development of college life and the stimulation of cooperative spirit between the student body and the administration.”
Additionally, he was also honored with the Pinchbeck Prize, which is an award designated to recognize five men of character, scholarship, and leadership from the junior class.
He has served his coaches and teammates as team captain of the men's cross country team during his career. Additionally, while a member of the Spiders cross country team he helped them earn USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors each of his four years extending the streak to 14 consecutive years the Spiders have received this designation.
Additionally, Tim served as Secretary to the Richmond College Honor Council from spring of 2014 to the spring of 2015. In the spring of 2015 he was elected Chair of the Richmond College Honor Council and served from the spring of 2015 to spring of 2016. During his tenure, the council sought to promote the value of not only academic honor but honor in all of student's daily commitments in college and beyond. Additionally, they implemented a new orientation program for first year students, extended membership to first year students in the fall and worked to improve the council's relationship with faculty members.
“Tim joins an elite group of young men and women to receive this award,” said head men's cross country coach Steve Taylor. “He has been a great competitor for the team and his achievements outside of athletics are outstanding. The Colonel Thomas Branch McAdams and Pinchbeck Awards are extremely prestigious on our campus and he received both. He maintained a very busy schedule and learned to balance his responsibilities as a student and athlete. His guidance of our younger team members has been critical to our success. He repeatedly showed that he cares for the team through his performances and efforts both as an athlete, leader and as an individual. Throughout his career he brought an exceptional work ethic to practice and that enabled him to excel. We wish him luck as he moves into a new chapter of his life.”
Former William L. Lumpkin Leadership Award Winners
1997- Award Established
1998- Randall Todd Myers
1999- Steven James Conroy
2000- Allen Gray Bowman
2001- Jeffrey Murray Crook
2002- David John Blanchard
2003- Peter Thomas Jennings
2004- Jonathan A. Lauder
2005- Brett William Walton
2006- John Patrick Ciccarelli
2007- Beth Ann Crocus
2008- Jonathan Robert Molz
2009- Sean Michael Welsh
2010- Garrett Patrick Graham
2011- Andrew Benford, Matthew Llano
2012- Devin Cassells
2013- Christopher York
2014- Jason Skipper
2015- Ryan Lee
2016- Tim Gruber
Players Mentioned
