April 25, 2008
EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette student-athletes Mark Price (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto) and Osasumwen Izevbigie (Springdale, Md./Charles Herbert Flowers) have been chosen as this year's recipients of the Otis Ellis '89 Scholar Athlete Award. They were honored on April 23 at Lafayette's 2008 Diversity Awards Ceremony in Pfenning Alumni Center.
The evening celebrated those who have succeeded in promoting diversity and making a difference in the Lafayette College community. Athletic Director Bruce McCutcheon presented Price, a senior forward on the men's soccer team, and Izevbigie, a junior thrower on the track & field team, with the awards which are given annually to the student-athletes who have attained the greatest distinction as both an athlete and a scholar.
Price is a Mathematics-Economics major who has a 3.60 grade-point average and played in 69 games over his four years as a Leopard, starting 43 contests. He finished his career with 13 goals, including five game winners, and five assists. During his senior season he appeared in 19 games and scored the game-winning goal against Holy Cross that sent the Leopards to the Patriot League Tournament for the sixth straight year.
He was selected to the NSCAA Scholar All-East Team as a senior, one of only five Patriot League players to earn the honor. As a junior he was named to the ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District II Men's Soccer First Team and was an honorable mention on the NSCAA Scholar All-East Team. Price has also earned a spot on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll all four years at Lafayette.
Izevbigie is a Government & Law and Philosophy double major who holds the shot put school record for the indoor and outdoor school seasons. Her first-place throw of 48' 1¾" at the Patriot League Indoor Championships in February broke the indoor school record for a second time this year and earned her a spot on the All-Patriot League First Team. Izevbigie was also an All-Patriot League Second-Team selection for her runner-up finish in the weight throw. She qualified to compete in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, where she finished seventh in the shot put and ninth in the weight throw. She was named the Patriot League Field Athlete of the Week twice during the 2007-2008 indoor season.
The Marquis Scholar is also a Patriot League Outdoor Champion in the shot put, winning the title and breaking the school record in 2007, while qualifying for ECACs and NCAA East Regionals in the process. In the classroom, Izevbigie holds a 3.64 cumulative GPA and was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll and the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team her sophomore year. The two-year letterwinner was also a member of the Lafayette women's basketball team as a freshman.
Otis Ellis '89 was an Economics & Business major who was inducted into the Lafayette Maroon Club Hall of Fame in 1996 for his achievements in basketball as the second-leading scorer in school history and the leading rebounder each of the four years he played. In 2000, Ellis was named one of the 10 greatest athletes of the century at Lafayette. He joined Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in 2001, where he is responsible for developing asset allocation, risk management and investment portfolio strategies for his clients
