Former IU Athletes Named NCAA Silver Anniversary Award Recipients

="silver"> January 13, 1998

Two former Indiana University athletes were among six chosen as this year's NCAA Silver Anniversary Award recipients. Gary Hall, swimming, and Cynthia Potter, diving, will be recognized Jan. 11 at the honors dinner during the NCAA Convention in Atlanta.
The Silver Anniversary Award recognizes former student-athletes who have distinguished themselves since completing their college athletics careers 25 years ago. The award winners were selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, which is composed of athletics administrators at member institutions and distinguished citizens who are former student-athletes.

Gary Hall, Swimming

A seven-time NCAA champion for the Hoosiers, Hall won the NCAA Today's Top Five Award and was awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. During his collegiate career, he also won 10 Big Ten Conference individual championships and 23 national AAU titles.
Captain of the 1972 and 1976 United States men's Olympic swim teams, he won silver and bronze medals at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Games. Hall set nine individual world records in three different events -- butterfly, backstroke and individual medley -- from 1968 to 1972. He was named World Swimmer of the Year in 1969 and 1970.
Hall went on to graduate from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine after completing his undergraduate degree at Indiana. Now operating the Gary Hall Eye Surgery Institute in Scottsdale, Ariz., he has become a much-sought-after lecturer at eyesight symposiums and conventions and is the author of four books on eyesight.
Hall is chairman of the board for the Children's Legal Foundation, a member of the Board of References for the Americans for Decency/American Family Association and spokesperson for the National Society to Prevent Blindness and the American Heart Association's American Heart Walk. Hall serves as honorary chairman for Swim for Diabetes, sponsored by the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland.

Cynthia Potter, Diving

Potter has won the most national diving championships of any woman (28) and is second overall only to Greg Lougainis. She also was a member of four U.S. Olympic diving teams (1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980) and won a bronze medal in 1976. From 1970 to 1972, Potter won World Diving of the Year honors while diving at Indiana.
She won more than 20 gold medals in international world diving competition between 1967 and 1980. In 1987, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and in 1989 into the Indiana University Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.
Serving as a television commentator since 1983, Potter has worked at the Olympics, NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships and Goodwill Games. From 1984 to 1996, she was head men's and women's diving coach at the University of Arizona and was named Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year in 1993.
Potter was a member of the executive board for the U.S. Olympic Committee and currently serves as trustee and chair of the U.S. Diving Foundation. She is an active volunteer for United Way, children's and Veteran's Administration hospitals, Special Olympics, and in the fight against illiteracy. She also is a volunteer for the East Lake Community Foundation in Atlanta, working to restore a community and educate young people in healthy living.

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