Courtesy of GoHeels.com

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -  University of North Carolina women's soccer great Mia Hamm, UNC Class of 1994, has been named a recipient of the prestigious NCAA Silver Anniversary Award for 2019.  The Silver Anniversary Awards are given each year by the NCAA to recognize six distinguished former student-athletes on their 25th anniversary as college graduates.

The Silver Anniversary Awards were first given in 1973, when five distinguished former student-athletes were honored. In 1986, the number of annual honorees was increased to six. Hamm will receive her award at the organization's annual convention in Orlando Fla., on January 23, 2019.

In order to be eligible, the nominee must be a college graduate and a varsity letter-winner at an NCAA member institution and must have achieved personal distinction since his or her graduation. The selection criteria are weighted 40 percent to the nominee's status as a prominent collegiate athlete and 60 percent to the nominee's career achievement.

"Mia's extraordinary exploits on the field are well documented and legendary but she is so much deeper than her athletic resume," says UNC women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance, who coached Hamm at the collegiate level from 1989-93. "Mia represented the best of selflessness and team above individual.  She is so deserving of this honor."

Hamm will be honored with the other 1994 college graduates who are Silver Anniversary Award honorees – fencer Tim Cullen of Air Force, wrestler David Hirsch of Cornell, basketball player Lisa Leslie of USC, football player Heath Shuler of Tennessee and baseball player Jason Varitek of Georgia Tech.
 
Hamm's Comments On Her Silver Anniversary Award:
"My time at North Carolina made me the player and person I am today. I graduated from high school and two days later my parents left for Italy for six years. My parents weren't coming to watch my games. My Dad got to a couple of national championship weekends, but they couldn't see me play regularly. I was on my own. If I had a bad week, I couldn't just drive to my parents' house and unload and reenergize.

"My first season at North Carolina, I remember lying on the field after a game at Stanford and I kind of broke down. I was holding onto everything so tightly. I wanted to be successful. I wanted to have an impact. I wanted to do well in school and didn't feel I was being the best teammate and that really bothered me. Our assistant coach, Bill Palladino, came over and talked me through it. He said, "Mia, we recruited you because we knew you could handle this. We knew this was the best environment for you to grow and improve, so don't think that it's too much. You're strong enough.'

"He gave me an avenue to be a little vulnerable. He taught me it's OK to have those feelings of doubt and uncertainty, but also to know we're here, we're a team, we're a family. Everyone talks about creating environments for people to succeed, but they created an environment for us to fail, as well — to build up that grit and that resiliency.

"That was so important for the rest of my career and that I've been able to use in life. I'm very grateful to have those coaches who pushed me to excel and to believe that I could be a better person than I was the day before."
 

Hamm attained the status of being recognized as one of the world's most talented and well-known female athletes in any sport and she accomplished that status very early in her career.  Almost 15 years after her retirement from soccer she is still one of the most respected and admired women's athletes in American history.

FIFA named her the Women's World Player of the Year in both 2001 and 2002, the first two years in which the world's governing body bestowed the award.

Her fame expanded off the pitch. People Magazine named her one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1997. Corporations contracted with her for major endorsements, including Gatorade, Pepsi and Pert Shampoo.  Nike named the largest building at its world headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., after her in 1999.  She has devoted her life after soccer to multiple philanthropic causes.  She remains, 14 years after her retirement, a recognizable icon in American sports history.  A modest and humble player, she is nevertheless one of the most charismatic and well-liked athletes in history.

Hamm was one of the stars of the U.S. team that won the title at the 1999 World Cup, an event which propelled the popularity of women's soccer in the U.S. to unheard of heights. Hamm converted a key penalty kick in the victory over China in the championship game.

Hamm was the 1994 recipient of the Honda Broderick Cup, given to the Outstanding Female Athlete in all of college sports.  She is the only UNC athlete to ever win the award.  She received the 1994 Patterson Medal as the outstanding senior athlete at Carolina.

The ACC honored Hamm with the 1993 and 1994 Mary Garber Awards as the ACC's Female Athlete of the Year. She also won the ACC Player of the Year award in women's soccer three times and was a three-time unanimous first-team All-America selection.  In 2002, she was named the outstanding female athlete in the first half century of the ACC's history dating back to the league's founding in 1954.

Hamm helped lead UNC to NCAA championships in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993.  She was the unanimous choice as college soccer's National Player of the Year in 1992 and 1993. Hamm won the NCAA Tournament MVP awards for offense in 1992 and 1993.  In 1989 and 1992, she was the MVP of the ACC Tournament.

Hamm led the nation in scoring in 1990, 1992 and 1993, setting the NCAA single-season record for scoring with 97 points in 1992. Hamm also holds the UNC record for assists in a season with 33 in 1992.  She scored 32 goals in 1992, the second-highest total in UNC?history.

Before retiring from soccer at the conclusion of the 2004 season, Hamm had been a member of the U.S. National Team since 1987, when she was still in high school.  She was 15 years old when she first played for the team, making her the youngest woman ever to play for the National Team.

She ended 2004 as the world's all-time leading scorer with 158 goals and 145 assists for 461 points.  Her 158 international goals were the most of all-time in FIFA history, male or female, until that mark was broken by Abby Wambach in 2013.  Hamm concluded her career on a high note by winning her second Olympic gold medal in 2004.

In 1999, she established the Mia Hamm Foundation to raise funds and awareness for bone marrow transplant patients and families and also to provide more opportunities for young girls in athletics.

She received her degree in political science from Carolina in 1994.  In 2003, she was married to Nomar Garciaparra, a former Major League Baseball All-Star and current ESPN commentator.  They have twin daughters, Ava Caroline and Grace Isabella, born in 2007, and a son, Garrett, born in 2012.