NATCHITOCHES – With Saturday morning's N-Club Hall of Fame Ceremony approaching, the Northwestern State association of former letterwinners announced Wednesday veteran director of athletics Greg Burke will receive the first N-Club Leadership Award.
 
The presentation will take place at Magale Recital Hall Saturday in 10 a.m. ceremonies open free of charge, as NSU celebrates Homecoming festivities culminating with the 6 p.m. football game in Turpin Stadium between the Demons and rival McNeese Cowboys.
 
The N-Club Leadership Award will not be presented annually, but only in special circumstances to recognize dynamic figures in NSU athletic history, said associate athletics director Haley Taitano, the N-Club coordinator. The N-Club's Hall of Fame voters created the award with Burke in mind. He marked his 20^th anniversary as AD in late August and is the longest-standing AD in Louisiana and the Southland Conference.
 
Six remarkable NSU competitors will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame Saturday morning. The Class of 2016 includes softball star Becca Allen, track and field decathlete John Barrier, workman-like basketball forward George Jones, standout football receiver Patrick Palmer, shutdown football cornerback Keith Thibodeaux and crafty baseball pitcher Jimmy Stewart.
 
NSU graduate and former Lady Demon basketball associate head coach Mona Martin will receive the N-Club's Distinguished Service Award honoring her outstanding high school and college coaching career.
 
Burke has been the Demons' athletics director since Aug. 29, 1996, when his first day included speaking at the annual NSU/Independence Bowl Kickoff Luncheon.
 
He has steered NSU athletics to many of its greatest accomplishments while overseeing a program that has fielded championship caliber teams in a dozen of the school's 14 NCAA Division I sports.
 
Highlights in Burke's two decades as athletic director include 41 Southland Conference regular-season or tournament championships, 67 All-America and Academic All-America student athletes, and three U.S. Olympic competitors. Twenty-five NSU teams have taken part in NCAA or other postseason competition.
 
All of the school's athletic facilities have undergone improvements in the past few years with the combined cost over $7 million.  Burke spearheaded a $2 million series of sponsorships for new scoreboards installed for 2008-09 at all NSU athletic venues; the $700,000 Second Century Circle fencing project for athletic venues; a $500,000 softball grandstand project; and a $600,000 upgrade of chairback seating at Turpin Stadium for the 2016 football season.
 
Fundraising initiatives reached new levels in 2015-16. Formalizing the endowed giving program, branded as "Perpetually Purple," generated an influx of over $100,000, while overall revenue generated by donations and sponsorships cracked $2 million.
 
 Competitively, milestones continue. One of the biggest under Burke: NSU in 2004-05 became the first (and remains the only) Southland Conference member in the league's five decades of history to sweep football, men's basketball and baseball championships in the same athletic year. It's been done only once in Southeastern Conference history, by Alabama in 1933-34, and only four times in Big Ten Conference history, the last time by Michigan State in 1979-80.
 
Those accomplishments have come with one of the more modest athletic budgets in the state and conference. Burke's management skill and fundraising ability have been pivotal.
 
Burke has a remarkable ability to hire dynamic head coaches. Anchors of the department are current head coaches Mike McConathy, Louisiana's all-time career basketball wins leader; softball coach Donald Pickett, and track and field coach Mike Heimerman, a trio with nearly 50 combined years on staff at NSU. Two former student-athletes in Burke's tenure are now NSU head coaches: third-year tennis coach Olga Bazhanova, and first-year baseball coach Bobby Barbier. 
 
Over 100 former NSU student-athletes, coaches and support staff members, most of them here with Burke as AD or assistant AD (1986-92), are working in college athletics at some level.  Former Demons are head coaches in the SEC, Big XII, ACC, Mountain West Conference, Conference USA, SWAC, and Southland Conference. Five others hold Associate AD positions in the SEC, PAC 12, and American Athletic conferences.
 
From his first day on the job, Burke has stressed the importance of having a balanced athletic program.  Tremendous competitive strides have been made in women's athletics under his guidance. Just in the past three years, Lady Demon basketball (2014, 2015), softball (2013, 2014), tennis (2013, 2015) and volleyball (2015) have reached NCAA Tournaments.
 
Burke established a high standard for NSU Athletics in academic achievement and community service.
 
The academic accomplishments are reflected annually in the NCAA's APR and GSR studies. Community service by NSU student-athletes, coaches and staff more than doubled to over 5,000 hours in 2009-10 and has remained at that level. The Southland Conference created the "Southland Strong" Community Service award to recognize the member institution whose student-athletes compile the most service hours each year. NSU won the inaugural prize in 2014-15 and was second in 2015-16.
 
 Burke spearheaded the adoption of the slogan "Great Tradition, Brighter Future" for NSU Athletics, and the creation of NSU Athletics "Cornerstones" for student-athletes:  "Academic Achievement, Personal Responsibility, Competitive Success … Every Minute, Every Hour, Every Day!"
 
During Feb. 2013, he was presented the "Outstanding Contributions to Amateur Football Award" by the North Louisiana chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. Six years ago, he was included among 29 winners of the Under Amour AD of the Year Award presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).  Burke was the 2010-11 president of the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association.
 
 He serves on the year-old NCAA Committee on Academics, a 20-person group replacing the Committee on Academic Performance, which included Burke. He also has served on the NCAA Championships/Sports Management Cabinet.
 
 Burke previously served a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee (1999-2002) and concurrently served a term on the eight-member NCAA FCS Committee that administers the national playoffs. He has served as a site supervisor for Football Championship Subdivision playoff games across the nation, and he is regarded as one of the country's premiere advocates of FCS football.   
 
In 2005, Burke was one of three recipients of the All-America Football Foundation's Gen. Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director Award and that same year, was also tabbed as one of two Natchitoches Parish Cenla Newsmakers of 2005 by the Alexandria Town Talk newspaper's editorial staff.
 
He received the 2006 "Outstanding Alumni Award" from his alma mater, Marlington High School in Alliance, Ohio, recognizing his community service and professional achievements.  At the time, Burke became one of only 21 alumni honored since the award was instituted in 1982.
 
 Burke serves on the Natchitoches Convention and Visitors Bureau board, and on the board of directors for the Central Louisiana Community Foundation. He is a past president of the Natchitoches Kiwanis Club and remains active in that civic group. He has also been part of the steering committee for the Natchitoches Christmas Festival and is a former member of the Natchitoches Area Jaycees. He is involved with the American Heart Association and was 2010 March of Dimes chairman locally.