The NCAA will honor the Knight commission’s Amy Perko with an award that celebrates former student athletes.

Perko will be one of six to receive the Silver Anniversary Award, which recognizes distinguished individuals on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their college athletic careers. Perko is the executive director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Amy Perko

The Fayetteville Observer of Fayetteville, N.C. recently profiled Perko in a recent article “Amy Perko’s passion as a player and administrator lead to major NCAA honor,” noting that in a time of turmoil in college sports, Perko is a “current agent for change” and an example of “what’s right” with college athletics. The article focuses on how Perko will use the opportunity to talk about some of the deeper problems facing college sports and how the Knight commission on athletics is working to address them.  

“Perko said the [the Knight commission] will spend 2012 pushing for more financial transparency and studying the impact of big-time football’s complex leadership structure. In both cases, the flow of revenue has perverted what the commission feels is the true role of college athletics.”

Perko has served as the Knight commission on athletic’s executive director since 2005. Before joining the commission, she was the first president of the Fayetteville Patriots, an NBA development team. She was a three-time Academic All-American who graduated summa cum laude and set multiple school women’s basketball records at Wake Forest University. She currently serves on the Child Advocacy Center Board of Directors and is a youth basketball coach. On the recent controversies that have been facing college sports, Perko says: “It’s unfortunate that it takes negative events to be the catalyst for change, but sometimes that’s just the reality. Sometimes it takes external factors.” The Silver Anniversary Awards will be presented on Jan. 13 during the NCAA’s annual week-long convention in Indianapolis.