ST. LOUIS – The U.S. Basketball Writers Association announced today the selection of Kent State coach and cancer survivor Danielle O'Banion as the winner of the Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award for women's basketball and the late, former Butler player Andrew Smith and his widow, Samantha, as co-recipients of the USBWA's Most Courageous Award for men's basketball.
He lost 40 pounds as a result of chemotherapy but began to make progress and started a job in financial services in July 2014. Just four days into his new job, Smith went into cardiac arrest for 22 minutes and spent three days in a coma.