Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Start of Australia Award Recipients
The Stars of Australia Award was awarded to Australians and Americans whose achievements are numbered among the most notable accomplishments resulting from a long and distinguished friendship and collaboration between the United States and Australia. In past years, the AACC has honored winners from various feilds of study including science, medicine and the arts. This year our recipients have had outstanding performances in the sports arena whether it be on the court, in the pool or playing the course.The 2010 honorees were Australians David Andersen, Houston Rockets and Bruce Devlin, Pro Golfer as well as American Laura Wilkinson, 2000 Olypmic Gold Medalist. Read below to find out more about this year's fantastic winners.
David Andersen
Houston Rockets Center
http://davidandersen.com.au/index.html
Andersen started playing basketball at the Australian Institute of Sport. He signed his first professional contract with the Wollongong Hawks of the Australian National Basketball League in 1998. After just one year, he moved to the Italian A League and signed a multi-year contract with Virtus Bologna, with whom he won numerous titles in his four-year span with the team. After the team went into bankruptcy in the summer of 2003, he moved to the Italian club Montepaschi Siena, with whom he won another Italian Championship.
The following season he moved again, this time to the Russian Superleague A club CSKA Moscow. Andersen earned an All-Euroleague First Team selection in the 2004-05 Euroleague season, when CSKA made it to the Euroleague Final Four. Before the 2008-09 season, he transferred to the Spanish ACB League club FC Barcelona. With Barcelona he won the Spanish Championship.
Andersen was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 37th draft pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. On July 14, 2009, his NBA draft rights were traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Houston Rockets
Andersen was a member of the senior Australian national basketball team. He won the gold medal at both the FIBA Oceania Championship 2005 and the FIBA Oceania Championship 2007. He also represented Australia at both the 2004 Olympics Basketball Tournament and the 2008 Olympics Basketball Tournament.
Bruce Devlin
PGA Australian Golfer
Devlin was born in Armidale, Australia. He turned pro in 1961 and joined the PGA Tour in 1962 after an amateur career in Australia which included a win at the Australian Amateur in 1959. During his PGA Tour career, he had eight victories all of which occurred between 1964 and 1972. In 1972, he earned $119,768 and finished eighth on the money list.[1]
On the Senior PGA Tour, Devlin won one tournament, the 1995 FHP Health Care Classic. At the end of the 1998 golf season, Devlin decided to retire from the Senior PGA Tour to concentrate on his Golf Course Architecture and Design business and his commitment to ESPN's Golf Telecasts.
The main focus of Devlin's career in the past 30 years has been his work as a Golf Course Architect and Designer. Devlin has designed and built more than 150 golf courses throughout the world including Australia, Japan, Scotland, the Bahamas, and the United States. About two-thirds of the golf courses he designed have been in Florida and Texas. Many of these courses have hosted all of the professional golf tours, including: The Houston Open, HealthSouth LPGA Classic, Key Biscayne Golf Classic, and The Nike Cleveland Open. His golf design business is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Devlin has also worked as a television commentator. He worked for NBC from 1977 to 1982; ESPN from 1983 to 1987; and since 1999 has occasionally covered professional golf for ESPN.
Devlin's most infamous moment came in 1975 at the Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational. On the 72nd hole at Torrey Pines South Course, he made a 10 after hitting multiple shots into the water in front of the green. Many have referred to this moment as a real life Tin Cup moment (the movie starring Kevin Costner).
Laura Wilkinson
2000 Sydney Olympic Gold Medalist
http://www.laurawilkinson.com/
Laura Wilkinson's first leap of faith from the 10 meter platform was at the age of 15. After being told by one of her teachers that she was too old to start a new sport, Laura plunged into diving anyway. Nine months later, she was kicked off of her high school diving team for being a "waste of space." The next year, Laura won her first US National Title, made the US National Team, and earned a bronze medal at the World Cup.
Laura overcame great obstacles to win her first major international gold medal, the 1998 Goodwill Games. She is the only American diver to ever win a gold medal at this prestigious competition. In 1999 after winning her second NCAA Division 1 title, Laura left her college scholarship behind to return home to chase her Olympic dream.
Shortly before the 2000 Olympic Trials, Laura shattered her right foot in a training accident. But with a persevering heart, she was not deterred by this injury. Together, Laura and her coach, Kenny Armstrong, designed unique training methods to utilize the mental aspects of diving to keep Laura's "head in the game." She had just three weeks back in the water to physically train prior to the Olympic Trials. The mental training began to pay off when Laura won the Trials making her first Olympic Team. Three months later, while wearing a protective shoe to walk up the ladder to the platform, Laura made history in Sydney, Australia.
Beating what many said were impossible odds in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history, Laura, starting in eighth place and with a broken foot, came from behind to win the 2000 Olympic platform gold medal.
Laura has also won the 2004 World Cup and the 2005 World Championships, becoming the only woman in history to win all three coveted world titles in platform diving. Along the way, she has won 19 US National Titles, been voted by the American public the 2000 US Olympic Spirit Award winner and was nominated for an ESPY award.
Laura's passion for the sport of diving goes well beyond her love of training and competition. She dreams of seeing the USA re-emerge as the world leader in diving. To accomplish this dream, Laura set up the Laura Wilkinson Foundation which is a 501(c)3 non profit corporation.
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