May 21, 2012
STANFORD, Calif.- Senior Jack Trotter has been named the recipient of the Stanford Alumni Association's 2012 J.E. Wallace Sterling Award, recognizing his dedicated involvement in volunteer and leadership activities through service to Stanford.
Howard Wolf, president of the Alumni Association and vice president for alumni affairs, recently presented Trotter with the award at a private reception.
Each spring, the Stanford Alumni Association invites faculty and staff to nominate a graduating senior for the J.E. Wallace Sterling Award. Named for J.E. Wallace Sterling, who served as Stanford's president from 1949 to 1968 and as chancellor until 1985, the award recognizes a senior whose undergraduate leadership and volunteer activities have made the largest impact on the Stanford Community.
Service might include involvement in athletics, clubs, drama and musical productions, fundraising, journalism, public service, religious organizations, residential education, social and political organizations, student government or University committees.
Trotter, who will graduate in June with a bachelor's degree in Economics and a Masters in Management Science & Engineering, has been actively involved in campus life. A four-year letterwinner who began his career with the men's basketball team as a walk-on, Trotter was a participant on the Cardinal Council, Stanford's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and most recently as a Senior Class President.
A three-time Pac-12 All-Academic selection, Trotter has been integral in outreach efforts to the 6th Man Club while creating events and programs to build class affinity and cohesion for the Class of `12.
One of his nominators described Jack's service to the campus community as follows: "His support of others whether on or off the court shines through his humble exterior. We think of him as `Mr. Stanford' and suspect many other Stanford students do as well. It takes an extraordinary person to maintain such balance and to achieve such success."
The Sterling Award cites Jack "For exemplifying the greatest traditions of the Stanford student-athlete...while at the same time remaining a ridiculously dependable and refreshingly humble "go to" guy on all things off the court" and "for having a sense of Stanford spirit that is exceedingly palpable, disarmingly honest and wonderfully infectious."
Previous recipients of the award include former women's basketball standout Krista Rappahahn (2006) and Newark, New Jersey mayor Cory Booker (1991).
Stanford (26-11, 10-8 Pac-12) captured its third championship in school history, closing out the year as 2012 Postseason NIT champions. Winning a school-record seven games during the month of March, Stanford has now claimed three titles overall (1942 NCAA, 1991 Postseason NIT). Appearing in the postseason for the first time in three years, the Cardinal chalked up its best win total since a 28-8 campaign in 2007-08. Despite placing seventh in regular-season conference play, Stanford wrapped up the year as the Pac-12's winningest program and tallied a league-best four victories against the RPI's top-50.