The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics named John Brown University the Champions of Character Five-Star Institution for the fourth year in a row.
According to the Champions of Character website, the program measures every eligible institution’s commitment to the NAIA’s five core values, which include integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership. They are graded on a point system based off of those criteria.
In a release by Director of Sports Information Nicholas Robinson, he stated that more than 80 percent of NAIA institutions scored the 60 necessary points to be name Five-Star Institutions, whereas John Brown scored 80 points for the 2012-2013 school year, giving them the third highest score in the Sooner Athletic Conference behind Oklahoma City and Oklahoma Baptist.
JBU has been implementing the Champions of Character five-core values into its athletics since the program began in 2001. The Five-Star Institution award has been given since 2009, and JBU won from the 2009-2010 school year through 2012-2013. According to the JBU athletics website, the Golden Eagle athletic department is currently only one of 23 programs in NAIA history to ever produce such records.