- September 3rd, 2024
- in News
National Alumni Association recognizes the 2024 Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award Recipients
The Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award recognizes former athletes whose accomplishments since leaving The University of Alabama are outstanding. Award criteria includes character, contributions to society, professional achievement and service.
Andy Gothard and Dr. Allen Yeilding were named the 2024 National Alumni Association Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award recipients.
Gothard and Yielding were honored on Aug. 31, 2024, at the football game between The University of Alabama and Western Kentucky University. During halftime, President Stuart Bell, Associate Vice President of Alumni Affairs Jimmy Warren, Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne, National Alumni Association President Nancy Siniard, National Alumni Association President-Elect Marianne Russell and A-Club President Allen Dye presented awards to the honorees.
Gothard, from Alexander City, played defensive back at Alabama from 1973-1976 under coach Paul “Bear” Byrant and was a graduate assistant coach from 1977-1979. Gothard was a part of three national championship teams and six SEC championship teams.
In 1976, Texas Christian University football player, Kent Waldrep, was paralyzed during a game with the Crimson Tide. Gothard was instrumental in making Waldrep an honorary A-Club member. Fifty years later, upon Waldrep’s passing, Gothard organized the “Kent Waldrep Celebration of Life,” where Waldrep was given a lifetime membership in the National Alumni Association.
Along with a group of volunteers, Gothard organized a flag football game between former Alabama and Auburn players, which was a fundraiser for victims of a tornado that hit Tuscaloosa in 2011.
Gothard and his sister, Honey Gothard Haynes, endowed a scholarship in honor of their parents through the Lake Martin Bama Club. Gothard is an active member of the Shelby County National Alumni Association and has served as an executive committee member since 2015.
Gothard is also one of the longest-serving members of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee and an active member of the Alabama A-Club, an organization for former Crimson Tide athletes.
Yeilding, from Birmingham, was an All-SEC golfer for The University of Alabama and an SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1977.
A three-year letterman for the Crimson Tide and team captain for the 1978 squad, Yeilding was the recipient of the Jimmie Moore Memorial Award, given to the varsity letterman with the highest grade point average.
Yeilding graduated cum laude from UA in 1978 and is currently a managing partner with Hematology & Oncology Associates of Alabama. He was honored with the Physician’s Recognition Award in 1990 and was president of the Alabama Society of Clinical Oncology in 1991.
His dedication to education at The University of Alabama is exemplified with the establishment of the Allen L. Yeilding Endowment Support Fund and the Allen L. Yeilding International Honors Program Annual Travel Support Fund for pre-med UA Honors College students.
The Alabama State Mid-Amateur golf champion in 1991, Yeilding serves on the President’s Cabinet, is chairperson of the board of visitors for Honors College, is a member of the A-Club and is a member of Friends of the Million Dollar Band.
Yeilding was also appointed by UA president, Dr. Stuart Bell, to The University of Alabama Capital Campaign cabinet. This 21-member group helped the University achieve their goals of enhancing student scholarships, faculty endowments, athletics and facilities.
The University of Alabama National Alumni Association is a self-governed, nonprofit membership-based organization that serves The University of Alabama and its many alumni, students, parents, friends and fans.