NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Southern Connecticut State University will be well-represented at the Franciscan Life Center's 36^th Annual Franciscan Sports Banquet and Silent Auction. Current men's basketball head coach Scott Burrell will receive the St. Francis Award while SCSU Athletics Hall of Famer Rick Leddy '71 will receive the Dean of Sports Award. The banquet will be held on June 7, 2022 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington, Conn.

The St. Francis Award is given to an individual who exemplifies commitment and dedication to athletics, family, community and church. The proceeds from the Sports Banquet help support the programs of the Franciscan Life Center and Franciscan Home Care and Hospice Care. These non-profit community-based services were founded by the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist. Programs include counseling, educational opportunities, community land-based services, home care and hospice care. The Dean of Sports Award recognizes sports media personalities and is named after legendary sports broadcaster Arnold Dean. 

Previous recipients of the award include Olympic soccer gold medalist Kristine Lilly, UConn Assistant Men's Basketball Coach George Blaney, ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas, and former Cincinnati Reds announcer and very first ESPN Sportscenter anchor George Grande.

Burrell recently completed his sixth season as the Owls' head coach. During his time at Southern Connecticut, Burrell has guided the men's basketball team to two NCAA Tournament appearances and captured the 2016 Northeast 10 Conference Southwest Division Championship. Burrell has mentored four All-Americans and also coached a NE10 Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year as well as 14 All-Northeast 10 Conference selections. Burrell joined the Owls after eight seasons as an assistant coach at nearby Quinnipiac University, a stretch in which the Bobcats claimed 143 victories and made four Division I post-season appearances.
 
A first-round draft pick (20th overall) of the Charlotte Hornets in the 1993 NBA Draft, he also suited up with the Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls and New Jersey Nets in a professional career that ran from 1993-2006. Burrell was a member of the 1998 Chicago Bulls team that won the World Championship and averaged 7.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game over his NBA career.
 
He remains the only athlete in professional sports history to be drafted in the first round of two different sports. A three-sport scholastic standout at Hamden High School, he was drafted in the first round of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft by the Seattle Mariners (and again drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays the following year), but enrolled at the University of Connecticut instead, where he developed into one of the Huskies' all-time greats.
 
Burrell was the first player in NCAA Division I history to top 1,500 points, 750 rebounds, 275 assists and 300 steals in his career. He averaged 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game over his four seasons and set a new Huskies record with 310 steals. Burrell finished his career as the school's all-time leader in blocked shots and was eighth on the school's all-time scoring list before heading to the NBA.

Rick Leddy was inducted to the SCSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007 after an illustrious 36-year career as the Owls associate director of athletics for athletic communications. He began his career as Southern's sports information director as a student in 1969, and continued until his retirement in 2007. He was named associate director of athletics in 1993.

During his career, he is recognized as one of the first sports information directors to establish athletic media guides for women's sports teams and developed the first official website of SCSU Athletics. He also trained and developed many students and assistants who went on to work in the field of sports information. As director, he was responsible for publicity, game coverage, media guides, compilation of statistics, and conference and NCAA reporting for all of Southern's athletic teams, which accounted for 10 NCAA National Championships during his time with the Owls.

Beginning in 1985, and during his time at Southern Connecticut, he also served as the public relations director for the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and was named the organization's director of public relations before being promoted to senior director of communications in 2014.

He was inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004 and also received numerous awards for his work, including the 2004 Clifford Wells Appreciation Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches, the College Sports Information Directors Association Distinguished Service Award, the Football Writers Association of America Outstanding Press Box citation and the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association's Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award.

For more information on the Franciscan Life Center's Franciscan Sports Banquet and Silent Auction, please visit the Center's homepage by visiting here.