NABC Court of Honor Gala to Recognize Arne Duncan, John Rogers

Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education, and John W. Rogers, Jr., chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments, will receive Court of Honor Awards from the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation at the ninth Court of Honor Gala on Wednesday, June 20, 2018.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education, and John W. Rogers, Jr., chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments, will receive Court of Honor Awards from the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation at the ninth Court of Honor Gala on Wednesday, June 20, 2018.
 
The Gala will be held at Cipriani, 110 E. 42nd Street between Lexington and Park, in New York City.  Additional information, including how to purchase tickets for the 2018 NABC Foundation Court of Honor Gala honoring Duncan and Rogers, is available at www.courtofhonorgala.com.
 
The Court of Honor Award is presented to individuals who have roots in college basketball, values those roots, and have gone on to distinguish themselves in their profession, exhibiting the highest standards of leadership.
 
“Arne Duncan and John Rogers have long been champions for education, literacy and national service,” said NABC and NABC Foundation Executive Director Jim Haney. “They were instrumental in the creation of an NABC Foundation literacy initiative, which they implemented in the Chicago Public Schools, to engage middle school students to read books outside of the classroom.  The program, which teamed with college basketball programs, later expanded to serve numerous school districts across America.”
 
Prior to joining the Obama Administration as Secretary of Education, Duncan served as chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools from 2001-2008. During that time, he won praise for uniting the city’s stakeholders behind an education agenda that included opening 100 new schools; expanding after-school, summer learning, early childhood, and college access programs; dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers; and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives.
 
Duncan, a Harvard University graduate, has returned to Chicago on a mission to improve the lives of young adults in his hometown. As managing partner at Emerson Collective, an organization dedicated to removing barriers to opportunity so people can live to their full potential, Duncan aims to create job and life opportunities for disconnected youth between the ages of 17 and 24 through partnerships with local business leaders, community organizers, and nonprofit groups.  Emerson Collective centers its work on education, immigration reform, the environment and other social justice initiatives. 
Duncan serves on the boards of Ariel Capital Management, Aspen Institute, Communities in Schools, Lucas Museum, My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation, Pluralsight, Revolution Foods, Thrive-Chicago and Turn It In. He also serves as Co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
 
 
Rogers, a graduate of Princeton University, founded Ariel Investments in Chicago to employ a patient, value strategy in small and medium-size companies. Beyond Ariel, John is a board member of Exelon, McDonald’s, The New York Times Company and serves as trustee to the University of Chicago. Additionally, he is a trustee of Rush University Medical Center and a life trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Nationally, John is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a director of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.
 
In 2008, he was awarded Princeton University’s highest honor, the Woodrow Wilson Award, presented each year to the alumnus whose career embodies a commitment to national service. Following the election of President Barack Obama, Rogers served as co-chair for the Presidential Inaugural Committee 2009, and more recently, he joined the Barack Obama Foundation’s Board of Directors.
 
Both Duncan and Rogers had notable basketball careers in the Ivy League. Duncan was a co-captain at Harvard and a first team Academic All-American.  Rogers served as basketball captain at Princeton, leading the Tigers to a share of the Ivy League championship in 1979-80.
 
The inaugural Court of Honor Gala Experience was held in April 2009 in Chicago, where Jerry Colangelo, chairman of USA Basketball and the man who assembled the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic teams in 2008, 2012 and 2016 received the Court of Honor Award.  Former Senator Bill Bradley, who combined distinguished careers in basketball, politics and government to become an iconic figure across America, was the recipient of the 2010 Court of Honor Award. Phil Knight, the chairman and co-founder of Nike, Inc., the world’s largest sports and fitness company, received the award in 2011.  The 2013 recipient was Jim Nantz of CBS Sports, the multi-Emmy Award winning sportscaster who called his 32nd consecutive NCAA® Men’s Final Four® in 2018 in San Antonio. Dick Vitale, ESPN college basketball analyst and the unofficial “ambassador” for the game, was honored in 2014. Legendary Hall of Fame coach John Thompson, Jr., who led Georgetown University to 10 BIG EAST titles and the 1984 NCAA championship, was the honoree in 2015; and George Raveling, inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015, received the 2016 Court of Honor Award for his career as a coach at Washington State, Iowa and USC and as director of global basketball for Nike, Inc.
 
Last year’s recipient was Mike Krzyzewski, head coach at Duke University, who has guided the Blue Devils to five NCAA championships and leads NCAA Division I in career victories.  In addition, Coach K served as head coach of the USA Basketball Men’s National Team, leading Team USA to gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 FIBA World Championship, 2012 London Olympics, 2014 FIBA World Cup and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
 
All of the Court of Honor Gala events were held in New York City after 2009.
 
The NABC Foundation will contribute a portion of the net proceeds from this Gala to the Obama Foundation whose primary aim is to equip civic innovators, young leaders, and everyday citizens with the skills and tools they need to create change in their communities.  The remaining net proceeds will fund the NABC Foundation’s programs.