Former AD Simpson Honored by ECAC
July 28, 2009 | General
July 28, 2009
Former Boston University athletic director John Simpson has been selected as one of three recipients of the Eastern College Athletic Conference James Lynah Distinguished Service Award, ECAC commissioner Rudy Keeling announced on Tuesday. The award is bestowed periodically upon an ECAC athletics administrator who has achieved outstanding success and has made significant contributions in the interest of collegiate athletics.
Also being honored this year are former Rhode Island administrator Lauren Anderson and former Westfield State athletic director James Bogan. The trio will receive their awards on October 6 at a luncheon in Hyannis, Mass.
Simpson served as BU's director of athletics from 1975 to 1984 and oversaw a period of tremendous growth, expanding the department from nine sports to 22 programs. Among the legendary coaches he hired during his tenure were track and field coaches David Hemery and Joan Benoit, men's basketball coach Rick Pitino, football coach Rick Taylor and wrestling coach Carl Adams, who remains with the Terriers to this day after 28 seasons. Under his leadership, BU was also the first school in the East to offer scholarships to women.
Simpson graduated from BU in 1950 and spent four years on the football team, helping the Terriers to a combined record of 22-9-1 through his career. He went on to earn a master's degree from BU in 1954. Simpson was inducted into the BU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 for his accomplishments as both a student-athlete and an administrator.
Before returning to BU as athletic director, Simpson spent time as a school administrator in Somerset, Mass., and Biddeford, Maine, and as a coach and professor at Colby College.
After his tenure in the athletic department, Simpson remained with BU until 1992, serving as the executive director of the General Alumni Association, the national director of development and a development/alumni consultant.
