BURNSVILLE, Minn. – Winona State's Devin Whitelow was voted by the league coaches as the winner of the NSIC Bob Olson Outstanding Senior of the Year Award. A native of Peoria, Illinois, Whitelow is a fifth-year senior majoring in criminal justice and holds a 3.59 cumulative grade point average.
The "Bob Olson Outstanding Senior of the Year Award" is presented to a NSIC men's basketball student-athlete who participates at his institution for four years and is academically superior while making a positive contribution to his team and University. The Bob Olson Outstanding Senior of the Year award was initiated in 2020-21 to honor an outstanding senior that exemplifies the attributes of Bob Olson. Olson, a longtime basketball coach and administrator at Northern State University, is known for his loyalty, commitment and humility. The NSIC men's basketball coaches felt Olson exemplified the attributes of the NSIC and wanted to honor a graduating senior student-athlete from the league that emulated Olson's traits.
Whitelow is a four-time WSU Presidential Scholar-Athlete Award Recipient and NSIC All-Academic team member. A five-time member of the WSU Dean's List, Whitelow has volunteered his time visiting local elementary schools and working summer basketball camps in Winona.
"Dev is one of the more impactful players I have coached in my career. From the day he arrived on campus, he has exhibited a work ethic & leadership quality that everyone else respects. Dev is the type of person that people gravitate to because his day-to-day personality is focused on doing things for others. On the court, he has been the consummate point guard, always doing whatever it takes to give our team the best chance to be successful. But he lives his life the same way off the court. To watch Dev work our basketball camps in the summer or his interactions with young students when we visit a local elementary school show the instant positive connection he makes with others, knowing the impact that interaction could have in that young person's life. He has always been a selfless player and he has demonstrated time and time again in his five years at WSU that he is a selfless person," said Head Coach Todd Eisner.
About Bob Olson
Bob Olson dedicated his career to Northern State University and the city of Aberdeen, South Dakota. Olson attended NSU in the mid-1970s and played basketball for legendary coach Bob Wachs. Olson earned a bachelor's degree from NSU and served as a graduate assistant under Wachs. When Wachs retired in 1985, Olson was selected as NSU's 19th men's basketball coach. For the next 14 years, Olson led NSU teams to national prominence at the NAIA and NCAA levels. The Wolves earned national post-season berths in their first four seasons in the NCAA, highlighted by a North Central Region Championship and Elite Eight berth in 1997-98. The Elite Eight appearance was the first by a NSIC institution in men's basketball. Olson has also made his mark within NSU's athletic department as in 1999, he took over for Jim Kretchman as the school's athletics director. For 13 years Olson led the Wolves athletic programs while also serving a term on the NCAA Championships Committee. Olson retired in 2012 and was inducted into the NSIC Hall of Fame in 2016.
About the NSIC
The NSIC is a 16-team, 18-sport, NCAA Division II conference with institutions located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The NSIC is a model Division II conference that uses high-level athletics competition to develop champions in the classroom and community while empowering student-athletes to be impactful and positive leaders. Formed in 1992 by the merger of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (men's league) and the Northern Sun Conference (women's league), the NSIC has flourished over the past quarter century, maturing into a 16-team union of Upper Midwest colleges and universities. The NSIC has won 24 team national championships and crowned 81 individual national champions. For additional information, visit NorthernSun.org.
About NCAA Division II
The NCAA, the national governing body for college athletics, is a volunteer association of more than 1,000 colleges and universities that classify their athletics programs in one of three membership divisions. The 300+ institutions in NCAA Division II support a balanced approach in which student-athletes have the opportunity to earn scholarships based on their athletic ability, pursue their desired academic degree, and participate in all the campus and surrounding community have to offer. Division II student-athletes annually graduate at rates higher than their student body peers, and they have access to the best championships-participant ratio among the NCAA's three divisions. Division II gives student-athletes the unique opportunity to compete in the classroom, on the field, in their career, for their causes, and on their terms. For additional information, visit NCAA.org.
