Indiana University Athletics
Murphy, Gerrity Earn Big Ten Medal of Honor
4/28/2015 11:56:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Hoosiers honored at Spirit of Indiana Showcase
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Mark Murphy (football) and Rebecca Gerrity (water polo) were named Indiana's 2014-15 Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients.
Murphy earned a spot on the Capital One Academic All-America® Division I football first team for the second straight season. He became the third Hoosier to collect the honor twice - Will Meyers (2005-06) and John Hammerstein (1994-95).
One of 17 National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athletes and a finalist for the 2014 William V. Campbell Trophy, Murphy was one of 30 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award and was a candidate for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® and the Wuerffel Trophy.
Murphy finished his career with 279 tackles, 174 solo, seven for loss, four interceptions, two INT touchdown returns, one sack, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and nine pass breakups.
In 11 starts in 2014, he made 49 tackles, 2.5 for loss, with two interceptions, including one score. A four-time game captain, Murphy was named IU's Defensive Player of the Week following the team's win over No. 18 Missouri and against Penn State.
Gerrity scored 40 goals and served 35 assists in the 2015 season, bringing her total to 120 goals and 68 assists in three seasons with the Hoosiers. Gerrity's athletic accolades include a CWPA Player of the Week award on February 2, 2015; a first team All-CWPA Championship team selection in 2014; and an honorable mention All-CWPA Championship selection in 2015. Gerrity averaged 1.2 goals per game in her 100 appearances with the Hoosiers.
Gerrity's excellence continued in the classroom, as she is one of the most academically decorated players in IU water polo history. Gerrity was a two-time CWPA Scholar-Athlete selection in 2013 and 2014, as well as a two-time ACWPC All-Academic selection in 2013 and 2014. Gerrity, a senior majoring in Biology, is the first Phi Beta Kappa honors society student in IU water polo history. She plans to attend medical school after graduating in May of 2015.
Gerrity joins former Hoosiers Molly Fonner (2002) and Kristin Stanford (2003) as the third Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient in IU water polo history.
The Big Ten, the nation's oldest collegiate conference, commemorates the 101st anniversary of a very unique tradition - the Big Ten Medal of Honor. The conference's most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." Big Ten schools currently feature almost 9,500 student-athletes, but only 28 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In the 100 years of the Medal of Honor, almost 1,400 student-athletes have earned this distinction.
