University of Kansas athletics director Lew Perkins was more than a spectator last night at the National Invitation Tournament’s championship game. He was awarded the NIT’s Man of the Year award at halftime.

Perkins, who was actually named Man of the Year in February, said the recognition came as quite a shock.

He said when the NIT called he asked, “Why? What did I do?”

“They told me they wanted to honor me for being a strong supporter of college basketball,” Perkins said. “I took it as the highest compliment I could receive. It’s something that I will cherish for a long time.”

Although Perkins did not expect the honor, Jim Marchiony said it was no surprise.

“There are many people in the field of college athletics who know how much he’s meant to athletics and college basketball specifically,” said Marchiony, associate athletics director for external affairs.

Marchiony said he had known Perkins for the past 15 years, and he had worked alongside Perkins for the past three years. He said Perkins continually tried to give coaches what they needed to be successful and considered student-athletes his top priority.

“He’s committed to making college athletics in general the best it can be,” Marchiony said.

Previous winners of the award include former Kansas athletics director Bob Frederick, former Oklahoma State coach Henry Iba and Texas Tech coach Bob Knight.

In 2000, Perkins received the inaugural National Athletic Director of the Year Award, presented by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Director of Athletics. During the 1994-1995 academic year, he received the “Crystal Award” from the UConn Club for dedication and service to the University of Connecticut Division of Athletics and the Distinguished Service Award from the women’s national championship basketball program.

He also brought NCAA Division I-A football to the University of Connecticut in 2000 while serving as the school’s athletics director.

— Edited by Lori Bettes