To Mountain West Conference, NCAA
President Cecil O. Samuelson has appointed Larry EchoHawk as Brigham Young University's faculty athletics representative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Mountain West Conference.
A professor of law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, EchoHawk replaces Kevin J Worthen, who has served as the faculty athletics representative since 2000 and who was recently appointed dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School.
In his new position, EchoHawk will work with BYU's administration and athletics administrators in monitoring the athletic program within the BYU community and its relationships outside the university.
"We have been fortunate to have the legal expertise of Kevin J Worthen in this position," said Samuelson. "He particularly distinguished himself and the university as chair of the MWC Joint Council, one of the conference's main governing bodies."
Although EchoHawk's appointment officially became effective May 1, he was present at last month's MWC meetings in Park City, Utah.
In 1995, EchoHawk was the first BYU student-athlete to receive the NCAA's Silver Anniversary Award, which recognizes collegiate athletes who graduated 25 years ago and who have gone on to make outstanding contributions in their professional lives.
"Larry EchoHawk is a deep thinker with a genuine love for and understanding of student-athletes," said Samuelson. "We expect that his background in athletics, law and public service will pay rich dividends for our athletic program."
A former Attorney General for the state of Idaho and the first American Indian in the United States to be elected to that post, EchoHawk attended BYU on a football scholarship, where he played in every football game from 1966 to 1969 and earned Academic All-Western Athletic Conference honors before graduating in 1970. He received a juris doctor degree from the University of Utah in 1973 and completed graduate business courses at Stanford University.
A member of the Pawnee Tribe and former tribal attorney for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes at the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Bannock, Idaho, EchoHawk was active in Idaho politics for many years. He was the Democratic nominee for governor of Idaho in 1994.
The first American Indian to lead a state delegation to a national political convention, he was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 1991. In 1999, President Bill Clinton appointed EchoHawk to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
EchoHawk joined the BYU law faculty in 1995 and was named Professor of the Year by the law students in 1997.
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Writer: Cecelia Fielding
