INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Sports Corp will present the 2025 Tom Jernstedt Lifetime Achievement Award to Ced Dempsey and will posthumously honor Vic Bubas for their distinguished professional careers dedicated to the advancement of Division I men’s basketball.
The Tom Jernstedt Lifetime Achievement Award was created in 2023 to honor those who best exemplify the leadership and service demonstrated by Jernstedt during his 38-year tenure at the NCAA, and who have made a meaningful impact on college basketball.
Ced Dempsey dedicated his career to college athletics and men’s basketball starting as a student-athlete and would later be named Executive Director of the NCAA. Before leaving the NCAA in 2002, he restructured the organization, cracked down on gambling in college sports, emphasized financial responsibility, and negotiated major television contracts with ESPN and CBS. He was also instrumental in moving the national office to Indianapolis from Kansas City. Dempsey was a member of the Division I men’s basketball committee from 1983-89, serving as chair in 1989, during which time the tournament was expanded three times, including the move to 64 teams in 1985.
As a student-athlete, Dempsey earned nine varsity letters in three different sports, was a two-time all-conference performer, and was named the conference’s Most Valuable Player his senior season. Following a stint as a coach at both Albion College and the University of Arizona, he was named Athletic Director at the University of the Pacific in 1967 and would go on to serve in the same role at San Diego State, Houston, and then return to Arizona in 1983. Following 10 years in Tucson, Dempsey was named the third Executive Director of the NCAA where he would serve until 2003.
Vic Bubas was a trailblazing coach whose innovations continue to impact the game to this day. Bubas is the first person to play and coach in the Final Four, having made an appearance as a student-athlete at NC State in 1950, and later led Duke to three Final Four appearances in 1963, ’64, and ’66. During his coaching career at Duke, he recorded 213 wins from 1959-1969, including a 128-38 record in conference play. Bubas was known as an elite recruiter being noted as the first coach to recruit juniors in high school and the first to assign his assistant coaches to specific regions of the country to recruit.
Bubas retired from coaching at 42 and went on to work with Duke’s university administration until 1976 when he began a 14-year stint as the founding commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference. During his time on the men’s basketball committee from 1980-85, the bracket expanded to 48 teams in 1980, 52 in 1983, 53 in 1984, and finally 64 teams in 1985 that took the event to a new level.
Dempsey and Bubas will be honored at the 2025 Men’s Final Four in San Antonio, Texas on Monday, April 7 while fans, former colleagues, and friends celebrate the life of Tom Jernstedt - the “Father of the Final Four.”
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About Tom Jernstedt
Tom Jernstedt joined the NCAA in 1972 and throughout his career worked behind the scenes to transform the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship to the premier event we know and love today. He served as executive vice president and oversaw the day-to-day operations of March Madness, the expansion of participating teams from 25 to 68 and the selection of larger sites, including domed stadiums, for the Final Four games. Beyond his tournament work, Jernstedt was a passionate leader and administrator whose connection with many impacted countless lives and careers. Many people described him as the type of person to make time for everyone, thoughtful, respectful, likable, and honest.
Throughout his 38-year career, Jernstedt served on many boards of directors and committees that include the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; United States Olympic Committee; United States-International University Sports Federation; Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association; Federation of International Basketball Association; and the University of Oregon Alumni Association as well as serving as the President of USA Basketball from 2001-2004. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame awarded Jernstedt the John Bunn award in 2001 which is the highest honor given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame recognizing an individual who has contributed significantly to the sport of basketball. He went on to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the United Sports Academy and the Bill McGowan Leadership Award from the Indiana Convention and Visitors Association in 2007. USA Basketball then awarded him the Edward S. Steitz award in 2009 which recognizes an individual for his or her valuable contributions to international basketball. Jernstedt was eventually inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 and then inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019, and finally inducted into the State of Oregon’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2020. Indiana Sports Corp awarded Jernstedt the National Pathfinder Award posthumously in 2021 during the Men’s Final Four weekend.
About Indiana Sports Corp
Founded in 1979 as the nation’s first sports commission, Indiana Sports Corp is a not-for-profit organization focused on bringing premier sporting events to Indiana to drive economic vitality, facilitate a vibrant community with civic pride and garner positive media attention. Because of this, Indiana Sports Corp is able to provide positive, sports-related opportunities for youth in the community. For more information, please visit IndianaSportsCorp.org.