NEW YORK, NY – Florida State men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton received the Joe Lapchick Character Award presented by the Joe Lapchick Foundation during a ceremony at the New York Athletic Club.
Hamilton was honored with the award which celebrates the life and career of Joe Lapchick, a Hall of Fame coach at St. John’s University (1936-47) and the New York Knicks (1947-56), who was well known for his compassion and integrity off the court. The award is given to coaches who exhibit honorable character and who have impacted the game of basketball as did Lapchick.
“When I got the call, associating me with the Joe Lapchick Award, I was honored to be mentioned in the same sentence,” said Hamilton. “If we know anything about his career, he always fought for what he thought was right, representing the sometimes underserved and disadvantaged, for women’s rights and the inclusion of all people in different areas.
“It’s an honor, a privilege, and I’m overwhelmed. I think about all the coaches and players that I’ve worked with who have created this culture that allowed us to be at this point.”
Hamilton is just the fifth head coach from the ACC to earn the award. He joins Georgia Tech’s Bobby Cremins, Virginia’s Pete Gillen, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, and North Carolina’s Dean Smith as Lapchick Award winners from the nation’s top college basketball conference.
Entering his 21st season at Florida State, Hamilton is the winningest coach in Florida State history (395 wins) and the fifth winningest coach in ACC history (395 wins). He has been named the National Coach of the Year five times, including most recently in 2021 when he received the Ben Jobe Award as the National Minority Coach of the Year. Hamilton is a three-time ACC Coach of the Year (2009, 2012 and 2020) and a two-time Big East Coach of the Year (1995 and 199) and is the only coach to be named Coach of the Year in the ACC and the Big East multiple times.
Throughout Hamilton’s Hall of Fame career he is most proud of the graduation rate of his players which exceeds 97 percent at Florida State (73 of 75 seniors), 90 percent at the University of Miami (28 of 31 seniors) and 95 percent for his career (101 of 106 seniors).
“My father went to the ninth grade. My father was extremely tough. My mother was very bright. I had three brothers and a sister. And I knew the only way I was going to improve my circumstances was I had to get my…