The Big Ten Conference Announces Inaugural “Big Ten Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award” for Student-Athletes

ROSEMONT, Ill – In honor of Jackie Robinson’s core values of courage, determination, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment, and excellence, the Big Ten Conference today announced the inaugural Big Ten Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award to recognize the conference’s student-athletes who have made an exceptional impact in their local community. Before breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier, Jackie Robinson was a standout student-athlete at UCLA, where he was the school’s first four-sport letter winner, excelling in football, basketball, track and field, and baseball.

Student-athletes will be nominated based on the following criteria:

• Demonstrated Impact: Significant and tangible contributions to community projects or causes, including measurable outcomes or positive changes resulting from their involvement.

• Collaboration and Teamwork: Ability to work effectively with others, including peers, organizations, and community members, to achieve common goals and enhance community impact.

• Consistency and Commitment: Ongoing and consistent participation in community service activities over an extended period of time.

• Visibility and Advocacy: Efforts to raise awareness and advocate for important groups or causes, leveraging their platform to promote positive change and engage others.

"The Big Ten Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award celebrates Jackie’s legacy of excellence in community service,” said Sonya Pankey Robinson, Jackie’s first grandchild, Director and board member of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. "We are proud to recognize 36 outstanding men and women for the incredible impact they make in their community."

“It is our privilege and great honor to bestow this award in Jackie’s name upon these deserving Big Ten student-athletes and to express our appreciation for the continuing support of the Jackie Robinson Foundation,” said Big Ten Conference Commissioner Tony Petitti.

"Our student-athletes make significant contributions through competition, academics, and community impact,” said Big Ten Senior Vice President, Community & Impact, Omar Brown. “This award allows the Big Ten to recognize these efforts in improving communities, just as we do with their other achievements. Jackie Robinson embodies this award and our goal to honor student-athletes who positively impact others."

Each Big Ten member-institution can nominate two student-athletes, one male and one female, from their respective schools. The Big Ten Conference will select two Jackie Robinson Community & Impact award winners, from the 36 nominations, who will be announced by the Big Ten Conference this spring. All remaining nominees will be recognized with individual awards for their contributions to their local communities. 

The Big Ten Conference’s commitment to athletics, academics and service goes back to the conference’s founding. Coupling the academic goals set forth by leaders of the charter members of the conference with their steadfast commitment to athletics, the conference instituted the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1915, the first award to demonstrate support for the educational emphasis placed on intercollegiate athletics. It is awarded annually by each member institution to one male and one female student of the graduating class who has attained the greatest proficiency in scholarship and athletics.

In June of 2020 the conference launched the Big Ten Equality Coalition. This group, which features student-athletes, coaches, athletic directors, chancellors, presidents and other members, has a stated goal of seeking tangible ways to actively and constructively combat racism and hate around the world, while also empowering student-athletes to express their rights to free speech and peaceful protest. An important initiative resulting from conversations initiated by the coalition was the Big Ten Voter Registration Initiative.

In recent years, several delegations of conference student-athletes and administrators have traveled to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, for an immersive civil rights educational experience entitled: “Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery.” The visit to one of the key centers of the civil rights movement was highlighted by marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to learn more about the profound impact that young people had on the civil rights movement.

Additionally, the Big Ten Conference is dedicated to making a lasting impact on the communities where its major events are held hosting sports clinics, renovating recreation centers, and giving elementary-aged children a behind-the-scenes experience with major Big Ten events. In all cases the conference focuses on creating meaningful improvements aimed at leaving each location better than it was found. Most recently, the Big Ten collaborated with the College Football Playoff Foundation, local sports organizations and local school districts to enhance spaces for teachers and children while providing additional educational and athletic opportunities for children.

As Jackie Robison famously said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."