The Rice Student–Athlete 2012–13 Owl Club Annual Report Welcome From the President We are pleased to present the 2012–13 Owl Club Annual Report. This past year was remarkably eventful, and the following pages not only recap the success we Thank you for your contributions to the Owl Club. I am pleased to enjoyed as a department, but also help set the stage for the great things that lay present you with this report on Rice Athletics and the accomplishments of our outstanding student–athletes, who make us proud on the field ahead. We are proud of our student–athletes’ continued excellence and dedication and off. Your choice to invest in our student–athletes doesn’t just in the classroom and community. The annual report will chronicle the many underscore the importance of college athletics broadly, but more so, it competitive, academic and athletic accomplishments of our student–athletes reaffirms the educational experience we offer here at Rice — one that is during the previous academic year as well as provide a look at where some of our uncommonly great at transforming student–athletes into leaders across graduates are today. the spectrum of the human endeavor. Being a student–athlete at Rice is not easy, physically or academically. This Owl Club Annual Report is provided yearly to Rice Athletics donors who, through Stepping up to the challenges presented by coaches and professors their generosity, provide scholarships and other means of support for more than requires a significant amount of time management, discipline and 350 deserving student–athletes. Our hope for the annual report is to recognize hard work. Your contributions play an important role in fostering our students’ success and helping us prepare them for the next stage of every Rice Owl Club member who played a role in generating $1.815 million during their lives. the fiscal year and provide our stakeholders a transparent view as it relates to Rice Athletics finances, fundraising totals by designations, and an overview of the Year in and year out, our graduates bring the skills, morals and expanded and increased impact of our donors’ contributions on the lives of our attributes they developed as student–athletes at Rice into their professional lives, whether they continue their careers in the student–athletes. professional sports arena or represent the newest generation of CEOs, doctors, lawyers, educators, consultants, entrepreneurs and managers. This is an exciting time to be a part of Rice Athletics. Please enjoy this year’s report Empowered by their educations, nearly all of them will invent, create and as we celebrate the accomplishments of the past while looking forward to the discover ways to improve the world we live in and positively influence challenges ahead. others around them. I hope you enjoy reading this year’s annual report, which provides a Thank you for your continued support. Go Owls! more detailed look at how gifts like yours are benefiting our student– athletes and the athletic department. Your ongoing generosity to the Owl Club is crucial as we continue to develop future generations of the world’s leaders. Thank you again for your support of Rice Athletics. Warm regards, David W. Leebron President On the cover: 2013 Rice graduate and volleyball player Laurie McNamara From the Athletics Director From the Owl Club President I am so excited to begin work as your new director of athletics, The Owl Club has had its best year for contributions for Rice’s recreation and lifetime fitness. I have felt welcomed by the Rice intercollegiate athletic programs. We have continued to add donors and community, and I have experienced the passion of those who support increase contributions to reach even higher levels of excellence in all 16 our teams. Together, we have exciting work ahead of us. programs. Thank you for your time, your donations and your attendance in support of Rice Athletics. A special thank you is also due to the athletic We will not be successful because of the strength or talents of any single department staff who worked tirelessly and with great effort to reach out to individual. Collectively, however, our coaches and staff, student–athletes, our constituents and help make this happen. alumni and friends cannot be stopped. Rice Athletics has not reached its full potential, but thanks to your commitment and support, we will So why do we do this year after year? We donate to the cause, we attend the begin that journey today. athletic events, we attend the development events, and then we come back again. This is not a difficult question — we all know that we continue to Certainly, our student–athletes are terrific representatives of the come back to support our student–athletes. university. They are academically focused, curious and passionate about what they do. They value excellence and work diligently to excel in all Just as Rice University is considered exceptional and unique, our student– facets of their busy lives. We must continue to support our student– athletes are exceptional and in a class with few equals. We thank them for athletes by being generous with our resources; attending games, what they do and what they stand for. Year after year, our student–athletes: matches, meets and tournaments; and bragging about them to our • Achieve top graduation rates and exceptional GPAs in all programs. friends and neighbors. They make us proud each day and deserve our • Achieve national and conference academic honors. full engagement. • Compete at the highest levels of Division I sporting events. The Owl Club Annual Report was developed for you — our donors, • Sacrifice many hours to improve their athletic skills. fans, alumni and friends. We believe strongly in sharing the athletic and • Represent the university in many community service projects. academic success of our teams with as broad an audience as possible. For the coming year, please make a special effort to meet and talk with our We also are committed to transparency as a means of building trust with student–athletes. You will see what exceptional young women and men we those who support our program. have in our programs and why they are outstanding ambassadors for the Thank you for all you have done to enable our success this past year. I university. Keep in mind many of our student–athletes are in attendance at look forward to working with you toward an even brighter future. our Owl Club events. When you read about the various scandals and excesses in collegiate sports Best regards, and the changing conferences, you can be proud that our university, Rice’s Athletics department and our student–athletes promote the real purpose and balance of academics and intercollegiate athletic competition. Please be generous, and go Owls! Joe Karlgaard, Ph.D. Director of Athletics, Recreation and Lifetime Fitness Steve Bradshaw ’70 Owl Club Board of Directors President 1 Blake Fox Baseball Sophomore Houston, Texas Will Rice College 2 Student–Athlete: Blake Fox ACADEMICS Carey LaGro Graduation Rates and APR Highlights Rice sophomore Blake Fox is a two-way talent on the Owls’ For the eighth consecutive year, Rice University’s intercollegiate athletic teams continue to shine nationally ranked baseball team, contributing as both a left- in the NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program public recognition awards. Rice teams handed first baseman and also as a relief pitcher. The southpaw receiving these awards from the NCAA include football, men’s golf, women’s basketball, women’s cross-country, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and women’s tennis. It is the seventh-straight from Houston turned his diverse skill set into a sensational college annual award for football, while women’s cross-country and women’s swimming have each won the baseball debut season. In addition to posting an undefeated 6–0 award all eight years of its existence. record, with a save and a 3.41 ERA in 37 innings on the mound, The Owls ranked sixth among all schools who compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), Fox also worked his way into 14 starts as either a first baseman having graduated 95 percent of all student–athletes who enrolled as freshmen from 2002–03 through 2005–06. Rice led schools with a 100 percent graduation rate among its African-American student– or as the designated hitter. After the season, he was named to the athletes, while Rice’s football team was ranked fifth among all football teams, with a graduation rate 2013 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America Team selected by of 93 percent over the same period. Rice’s female student–athletes ranked fifth in the country with a Collegiate Baseball Magazine. 98 percent graduation rate. The cumulative GPA for all 16 teams at Rice is 3.186. Fox’s on-field success, however, is only a small part of a distinct Rice University story that goes back two generations. National Academic Honors Blake’s cousin (Matt Fox), father (Mike Fox) and grandfather CoSIDA Academic All-American: Matt Carey ’12 (men’s track and field) CoSIDA Academic All-District 7: Tanner Leland ’14 (football) (Jim Fox) all played for the Owls before advancing to various levels Matt Carey ’12 (men’s track and field) of professional baseball in different minor league organizations. Julia Barrow ’13 (women’s soccer) The newest member of the Fox legacy may have had a tough Lauren LaGro ’13 (women’s soccer) Laurie McNamara ’12 (volleyball) family act to follow when he joined the Owls baseball program last 2013 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship: Matt Carey ’12 (men’s track and field) season, but he’s already carved out his own distinct niche for the Fulbright Award: Amanda Gutierrez ’13 (women’s track and field) Blue and Gray.