It’s the highest honor the NCAA may confer upon an individual, per the organization’s website. This year’s recipient is Irish.
On Wednesday, the NCAA announced ocular oncologist and former Notre Dame women’s basketball player Dr. Carol Lally Shields as the 2023 recipient of the Theodore Roosevelt Award, more affectionately known as the “Teddy.” Created in 1967, the award is presented annually to a distinguished person of national reputation and exceptional accomplishment.
“To be eligible, the recipient must have graduated from an NCAA member institution and earned a varsity athletics award, or participated in competitive intercollegiate athletics,” the NCAA website reads. “Furthermore, the awardee, by personal example and contributions to society, exemplifies the ideals to which collegiate athletics programs and amateur sports competition are dedicated.”
A member of the first women’s varsity basketball team at Notre Dame, Dr. Lally Shields received an undergraduate degree in professional studies in 1979. She did not intend to play a sport for the Irish, instead planning to focus on her academic passion: science. After seeing an advertisement for women’s basketball tryouts, she decided to give it a shot. A three-time captain, she ultimately led the Irish with 10.7 points per game as a junior and 12.8 in her final season.
“It allowed me to believe in myself. It allowed me a leadership role … and it taught me teamwork,” Lally Shields said of basketball in a 2011 Strong of Heart profile. “Life is all about teamwork!”
The Western Pennsylvania native was the first female student-athlete to receive the Byron V. Kanaley Award for excellence in academics and leadership, the highest honor given to Irish athletes. She subsequently received her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1983.
Since becoming an oncologist, Dr. Lally Shields has authored or co-authored five textbooks and more than 700 medical articles. In 2004, she was the first woman to receive the Donders Medal, which is given every five years by the world-renowned Netherlands Ophthalmological Society. She is one of just a handful of doctors nationwide to focus on ocular tumors full-time.
Alongside her husband, Dr. Jerry Shields, Dr. Lally Shields currently heads up the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. The two specialists see around half of the nation’s children who are diagnosed with retinoblastoma each year and around one-third of the adults who are seeking treatment for ocular melanoma. She also serves as a consultant for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.
After departing Notre Dame, Dr. Lally Shields remained heavily involved in the Irish family. She was on the Monogram Club’s board of directors from 2005-08 and received an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame. She became a member of the school’s Science Advisory Council in 1989.
Previous recipients of the award include United States presidents, championship coaches and Olympians, among others. The first ever winner of the “Teddy” was former President Dwight Eisenhower in 1967. Dr. Lally Shields is the second winner from Notre Dame, as Alan Page was the 2004 recipient. The award will be presented Jan. 11 at the NCAA Honors Celebration.
The honor is named after President Theodore Roosevelt, whose concern for the conduct of intercollegiate athletics led to the formation of the NCAA in 1906. A full list of winners can be found here.