Judy Rose, director of athletics, received the Charlotte Business Journal Lifetime Achievement Award during the publication’s annual Women in Business luncheon at the Charlotte Convention Center Thursday.
"I am so humbled to join the previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award," Rose said during the presentation. "On behalf of all of the past and current winners, I extend a heartfelt ‘thanks’ to the Business Journal, Northwestern Mutual, Wells Fargo, Duke Energy and all the sponsors. Your focus on women in business creates an awareness of just how far women have advanced in the Charlotte business community."
Rose, who became the 49ers director of athletics in June 1990, has overseen significant growth in the Charlotte athletics program. At the time of her appointment, she was one of just three women who served as athletic directors at NCAA Division I schools. In 2000, she became the first woman to serve on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee. In 2001, she was named the Southeast Regional Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), and in 2003-04, she served as president of NACDA.
During the past 20 years, the 49ers have added approximately $100 million dollars worth of athletic facilities, including the Barnhardt Student Activity Center/Halton Arena, the Irwin Belk Track and Field Center/Transamerica Soccer Field, Robert and Mariam Hayes Baseball Stadium/Tom and Lib Phillips Field, the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex, the 49ers Golf Practice Facility at Rocky River Golf Club, the D.L. Phillips Sports Complex/Wells Fargo Field House and the recently completed Jerry Richardson Football Stadium.
In addition, the 49ers have helped bring the 1994 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, the 1996 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four, the 1999 and 2000 NCAA Men’s Soccer College Cups, the 1997 AAU Junior Olympics and an array of NCAA regional tournaments to Charlotte.
Prior to Rose becoming director of athletics, the 49ers had sent one program to NCAA tournament competition, and two programs had won conference championships. Under Rose, 13 programs have advanced to NCAA championship competition and 14 have won conference titles.
The 49ers have been to a "final four" in each decade that Rose has served as AD: 1990s: men’s soccer (1996 national semifinals), 2000s: golf (Tied for 3rd at NCAA championships), 2010s: men’s soccer (2011 national finalist).
Also, the 49ers have made huge strides in academic support and community service. Seven Charlotte 49ers have been named Atlantic 10 Conference Male or Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year since UNC Charlotte joined the league. No other school had more than two.
In terms of community service, the program created by Rose to give back to the community has yielded more than 14,000 hours of volunteer service to the region’s agencies, charities, schools and hospitals during the past six years. This past year, the 49ers donated 3,123 hours of service, which equates to 130 full 24-hour days of service.
Rose spearheaded development of two of the 49ers largest fundraising events - the Great Gold Rush Auction and the Let Me Play Luncheon.
The award comes in 2013, as the Charlotte 49ers prepare this fall to debut its inaugural football team, considered a top accomplishment for Rose, who began her career with the 49ers in 1975 as the school’s first women’s basketball and women’s tennis coach.