Notre Dame Earns Multiple Awards At 2024 NCAA Convention

Last week, the NCAA held its 2024 Convention Welcome and Awards Presentation in Phoenix where Notre Dame was honored on two occasions. 

For the 2024 Silver Anniversary Award, the NCAA honored six former student-athletes for their outstanding collegiate and professional achievements on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their college athletics careers. One of the 2024 recipients was none other than Notre Dame women’s soccer alumna Shannon Boxx. She was honored alongside Nicole Aunapu Mann, Jerry Azumah, John Cena, Misty May-Treanor and Cindy Parlow Cone. 

Boxx first arrived at Notre Dame in the fall of 1995 and made an immediate impact, as she helped the team win the school’s first NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship in the same year. 

Boxx was named to the All-Big East team in 1995, 1996 and 1997. She’s 1-of-12 Irish players all-time in the 30-30 Club, posting 39 goals and 57 assists. All-in-all, she finished with 135 total points. 

After earning her first cap for Team USA at age 26 and becoming the oldest American woman to make an international debut, Boxx became a staple of the U.S. women’s national team. She went on to represent Team USA 195 times, which ranks 15th all time and is the most by an American Black woman. 

She was a member of three Olympic gold medal-winning teams and finished third in the 2005 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year voting. She capped her career at the age of 38 as a member of the 2015 Women’s World Cup championship team. Before her retirement, Boxx also played in three women’s professional leagues: the Women’s United Soccer Association, Women’s Professional Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League. 

Boxx, who was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in May 2022, accomplished this all while managing two autoimmune diseases: Sjogren’s syndrome and lupus. Through sharing her story publicly, Boxx has worked to drive awareness to and funding for both diseases. 

After retiring in Portland, Oregon, Boxx co-founded the Bridge City Soccer Academy, which works to empower young women of all backgrounds to succeed as coaches, athletes and leaders in their communities, and she became a co-owner of the NWSL expansion team Angel City FC. In May 2022, she founded Ethos Mentality, an organization that aims to help athletes transition out of sport. She is also an on-air analyst for U.S. women’s national team games.

Notre Dame also earned the 2024 NCAA and Minority Opportunities Athletic Association Award for Diversity and Inclusion at the NCAA Convention Welcome and Awards Presentation in Phoenix. The NCAA/MOAA Award for Diversity and Inclusion recognizes the initiatives, policies and practices of schools and conference offices that embrace diversity and inclusion across intercollegiate athletics. This can be achieved through community service, professional development, hiring practices or programming activities that enhance opportunities for people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and experiences.

Building off the school’s staNDtogether campaign from 2020-22, Together Irish launched prior to the 2022-23 academic year.

Through Together Irish, Notre Dame has focused its efforts on embracing and embodying inclusive excellence for the following areas: race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, spirituality, citizenship and ability. The initiative directly led to more than 30 campuswide activations during the 2022-23 academic year alone and featured participation by each of the school’s 26 varsity sports. In addition to student-athletes, Together Irish engaged staff, coaches, campus and industry partners, philanthropic and corporate partners, the local community and alumni.

JP Abercrumbie, Notre Dame’s Executive Associate Athletics Director for Culture and Engagement spearheaded Together Irish, with one of the most notable activations involving Notre Dame’s home football game against Tennessee State last fall. Dubbed “TSUND,” the game was Notre Dame’s first against a historically Black college or university. The two schools partnered to host more than 15 featured events over the weekend. These included academic exhibits, student career exploration activities, cultural exchanges and social gatherings, special in-game elements, and the launch of a ticket initiative that engaged more than 30 nonprofit organizations and community partners working to address critical needs for vulnerable populations.

There is more available here on Notre Dame’s Together Irish campaign and the University reaction to the award.