Softball's Boyd and football's Pflugrad earn Tom Hansen Conference Medal of Honor
Complete List of ASU Medal of Honor Winners
Arizona State University student-athletes Katelyn Boyd and Aaron Pflugrad honored with Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal. A Conference Medal is awarded annually to each member institution’s outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership.
Katelyn Boyd (softball) and Aaron Pflugrad (football) are the award winners for Arizona State for the 2012 academic school year. This is the seventh honor for football and fourth for softball.
The Tom Hansen Conference Medal was named in honor of Hansen, who served 26 years as commissioner of the Pac-10 Conference, retiring in June of 2009. The award first named in his honor in 2008-09.
During her senior campaign, Boyd helped her squad to its third Women’s College World Series appearance in her four years at ASU. Off the field, the three-time Academic All-American led a team that was recently recognized for its Academic Progress Rate (APR), which ranked in the top 10 percent nationally with a score of 997 out of 1,000. Read more about ASU’s APR standings here.
Individually, Boyd is one of the most decorated softball student-athletes in the program’s history – she is a three-time All-American and her named appears in the ASU record book 25 times. After concluding her collegiate career, Boyd turned around her storied Sun Devil playing days with an invitation to try out for Team USA Softball and subsequently was named to its Elite Team in early June. Read more about Katelyn here.
A three-year member of the Sun Devil football team, Pflugrad gained momentum as a playmaker on and off the field. Most recently in his senior outing he stacked his trophy case with awards such as First Team Academic All-District, semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy (learn more here), Second Team Academic All Pac-12 and was named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List for the most outstanding college football receiver (learn more here).
Following his spring of 2011 graduation with a B.A. degree in marketing, Pflugrad was one of two 2012 recipients of the postgraduate scholarship awarded by the National Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame (NFF). In May, he was named a member of the 2012 NFF Hampshire Honor Society which honors college football players with a 3.2 grade point average or better.
The Pac-12 Conference Medal dates back to 1979 with Chris Mott (Football) being Arizona State’s first honoree. Through the years, 15 NCAA Individual Champions, 8 Olympians and 37 All-Americans have earned the distinction for the Sun Devils. See a complete list of award winners, here.
2011-12 Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal Winners
Arizona Ben Grado, Diving; Katie Matusik, Gymnastics
Arizona State Aaron Plfugrad, Football; Katelyn Boyd, Softball
California Jorge Gutierrez, Basketball; Valerie Arioto, Softball
Colorado Andy Wacker, Cross Country/Track & Field; Katie Hartman, Skiing
Oregon David Paulson, Football; Amanda Johnson, Basketball
Oregon State Cameron Collins, Football; Leslie Mak, Gymnastics
Stanford Andrew Luck, Football; Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Basketball
UCLA Andy Rose, Soccer; Samantha Camuso, Softball
USC Daniel Nguyen, Tennis; Amanda Smith, Swimming
Utah Derrick Shelby, Football; Maria Graefnings, Skiing
Washington Robert Munn, Rowing; Kate Deines, Soccer
Washington State Derek Jones, Baseball; Elisabeth Fournier, Tennis