Scholarship for academics, athletics

2014 Brundage winner Christopher Knowlton loves bioengineering and modern dance.

University of Illinois students who excel in both academics and athletics are encouraged to enter the 2016-2017 Avery Brundage Scholarship competition. Deadline for submitting completed applications is Feb. 8.

Full-time students at the Chicago, Springfield and Urbana campuses, including incoming freshmen, graduate and transfer students, may apply.

Grant-in-aid recipients may be eligible for Brundage scholarships under specified conditions. Academic and athletic competence will be considered over financial need.

Undergraduate and transfer student applicants must rank in the top 25 percent of their college, and incoming freshmen must rank in the upper 25 percent of their incoming class.

Graduate and professional students must be in good academic standing. Students must also have demonstrated “special athletic ability” in an amateur sport. However, their participation must have been for personal development, rather than as preparation for professional athletics.

Previous winners represent a wide variety of sports, from archery and tennis to swimming and wheelchair basketball. Last year, 16 winners were awarded $2,500 each.

The late Avery Brundage, a 1909 U of I graduate, competed in the 1912 Olympics and later served as president of both the U.S. and International Olympic committees. He established the scholarship in 1974, with a $343,000 endowment to the University of Illinois Foundation. Over the past 41 years, 890 scholarships with a total value of $1,204,225 have been awarded.

Brundage maintained his interest in the University through service as a member of the University of Illinois Foundation, President’s Council and Citizen’s Committee.