Former IU football and long time NFL quarterback Trent Green is one of five individuals who will be honored this weekend by Indiana for contributions to the school’s athletics programs.
Former IU defensive back Mark Sutor will also receive the Clevenger Award, while former female athletes Linda Bunce, Suzanne Crump and Melina Maniatis Kennedy will receive the Leanne Grotke Award.
The awards will be formally given at the Henke Hall of Championships at Memorial Stadium.
The full release from IU Athletics follows.
Bloomington, Indiana – Five individuals will be honored for their enormous contributions to Indiana University during the presentation of the 59th annual Z.G. Clevenger Awards and the 14th Annual Leanne Grotke Awards in the Henke Hall of Champions Sept. 17-18.
Two individuals will be awarded the Zora Clevenger Award, which is presented to living I-Men who, as alumni, have made outstanding contributions to Indiana University through service to its athletics program.
Clevenger, a coach and athletic director, was characterized by his commitment to excellence, high ideals, and principles. He was devoted to his staff and worked untiringly to assist the coaches in developing their programs and establishing high ethical standards.
The award perpetuates the ideals Clevenger set forth in his many years of service as a student, athlete, coach, and athletics administrator. The honor is bestowed upon living I-Men who, as alumni, have made outstanding contributions through service to its athletics program. This is the highest honor given an I-Man by the Association.
This year’s Clevenger Award winners are:
Trent Green, BS ’92, Football
One of the most accomplished quarterbacks in IU Football history, Trent Green (BS ’92) followed up his remarkable run in Bloomington with a highly-successful 15-year career in the NFL.
Green played under Head Football Coach Bill Mallory from 1989-92, was a three-year starter, and was the team’s co-captain and MVP in 1992. He was a member of three bowl teams, including the 1989 Liberty Bowl Champions and the 1991 Copper Bowl Champions. In 1991 he established new program records with 2,627 passing yards and 2,829 yards of total offense, and his career totals 5,400 passing yards and 5,916 yards of total offense both rank eighth in IU history.
An eighth-round pick in the 1993 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, Green spent 15 years in the professional ranks with six different NFL franchises. He got his first chance to start in 1998 with Washington, where he threw for 3,441 yards and 23 touchdowns in 14 starts. The following fall a pre-season knee injury ended his chances to start for the eventual Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams, but soon afterwards he moved on to Kansas City, where he was a starter from 2001-06. He threw for at least 3,600 yards five times with the Chiefs and was a Pro Bowl selection in both 2003 and 2005. He retired from the NFL in 2008, and has gone on to more successes as an NFL color analyst for Westwood One, the NFL Network and, for the last eight years, with CBS Sports.
Green’s accomplishments on the field have been mirrored by his contributions off it. A 2011 inductee into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame, Green has been highly involved with a number of Kansas City area and national charities, including the Ronald McDonald House, Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Phoenix Family and the YMCA. He and his wife, Julie, have also been active supporters of IU Football for many years, and the IU locker room is now named the Trent and Julie Green Locker Room in recognition of their major gift in support of the program.
Trent’s wife, Julie, is also an IU graduate, having earned her degree from the IU School of Education. The couple met while they were undergrads and have been married for 27 years. They have three children – T.J., Derek, and Janelle.
Mark Sutor D.D.S., BA ’83, Football
Mark Sutor (BA ’83) was a standout member of IU’s secondary under Head Football Coach Lee Corso in the early 1980s before going on to a highly-successful and on-going career as a Periodontist in Bloomington.
Sutor came in Bloomington in 1979 as a coveted quarterback recruit from Hickory Hills, Ill., someone who earned all-conference honors as a high school senior in football, basketball and baseball. But upon his arrival in Bloomington he was moved to the defensive backfield, where he lettered all four years for the Hoosiers. He was a member of IU’s 1979 Holiday Bowl team that earned the program’s first-ever bowl win. As a senior in 1982 he was named the team’s Defensive MVP after recording six interceptions, a total that still ranks third on IU’s all-time single-season list.
Sutor earned his IU undergraduate degree in Biology, and subsequently studied at both Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, Tex., and the College of Dentistry in Lexington, Ky. He completed his graduate work in 1991 and returned to Bloomington, where he has been a highly-successful Periodontist for the last 30 years. He is a member of numerous organizations including the American Dental Association, the American Academy of Periodontology and the Indiana Society of Periodontics, among others.
Mark and his wife, Theresa, live in Bloomington. He has two children – Chad and Jennie.
The Leanne Grotke Award is presented to living I-Women who, as alumni, have made outstanding contributions to Indiana University through service to its athletics program.
Grotke played a pivotal role in establishing women’s intercollegiate athletics at Indiana University. In 1972, Title IX legislation was passed. Grotke was named the first full time Associate Athletic Director for Women’s Athletics in the Big Ten.
The Grotke Award perpetuates the same ideals as the Clevenger Award. The honor is bestowed upon living I-Women who, as alumni, have made outstanding contributions through service to its athletics program. This is the highest honor given an I-Woman by the Association.
This year’s Grotke Award winners are:
Linda Bunce, BS ’81, Softball and Volleyball
Linda Bunce (BS ’81) was one of IU Athletics’ pioneers, playing both softball and volleyball during an era when IU women’s athletics were under the direction of the Department of Physician Education for Women.
Bunce was a catcher for the IU softball extramural team from 1969-73 and also an outside hitter for the Hoosier volleyball team from 1969-70. A Certificate of Merit recipient for her athletic contributions as an undergraduate, she was subsequently awarded a varsity “I” letter when IU Athletics honored IU’s past female student-athletes who competed in the era before women’s sports were under the direction of the Athletic Department.
Her contributions to women’s athletics didn’t end with her IU career. While she was working for 30 years as an Assembly and Fab Operator at General Motors in Kokomo, she was also volunteering a great deal of her time as both a youth volleyball, basketball and softball coach at the junior high school and high school levels. She also worked for the IHSAA as a softball, basketball and volleyball official, and for the ASA as a youth tournament softball umpire.
While her playing days at IU ended nearly 50 years ago, she has remained close to the sports programs throughout. She’s been an IU Football season ticket holder for 43 years, an IU Women’s Basketball season ticket holder for 18 years, and IU Varsity Club member for 46 years.
Suzanne Crump, BS ’84, Softball
Suzanne Crump (BS ’84) came to IU in 1980 as a highly-accomplished high school student-athlete, someone who had earned 10 varsity letters during her prep career at Western High School in Russiaville, Ind. Despite those successes, no one would have thought she’d depart IU four years later as Big Ten champion in softball and someone who had a chance to play in the College Softball World Series.
Why? Because none of those 10 high school varsity letters were in softball.
Crump was a four-year starter in high school in volleyball, a three-year starter in basketball and a standout in track and field. But it wasn’t until she tried out as a walk-on at IU that she had ever played fastpitch softball. Despite that lack of experience, Crump showed IU Softball Coach Gayle Blevins enough to not only make the Hoosier team as a sophomore, but to be a key component of a team that won the 1983 Big Ten title and advanced to the College Softball World Series.
Crump has continued to make an impact on education and athletics in the Hoosier state during her professional career. She served as a girl’s basketball coach at Cowan (Ind.) High School just outside of Muncie in 1997, and was then named Cowan’s athletic director in 1999. She remained there until 2007, when she moved to Muncie Central to serve as assistant principal. In 2014 she added the title of athletic director, a role she held until her retirement in 2017. Her absence from the high school ranks was short-lived, as she returned to Cowan Junior/Senior High School in 2019 to serve as assistant principal and athletic director.
Suzanne and her husband, Michael, have two children – Kathryn Childress and Tyler Crump.
Melina Maniatis Kennedy, BS ’91, MS ’95, JD ’95, Track and Field and Cross Country
After making a significant impact on the successes of the IU Track and Field and Cross Country programs for four years as an undergraduate, Melina Maniatis Kennedy (BS ’91, MS ’95, JD ’95) has since gone on to make enormous contributions to the state of Indiana in a variety of capacities for the last quarter century.
As a student-athlete, Melina was a four-year letter winner in both cross country and track and field and was a four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection. While at IU she competed for legendary Hoosier track and field coach Sam Bell and was honored with the program’s Coaches Award in 1991.
After concluding her undergraduate career and subsequently earning her Master’s and Law degrees from IU Bloomington in 1995, Melina has gone on to great successes as an attorney, in city and state government, in business, and with her community service efforts. She has spent the last nine years at Columbus, Indiana-based Cummins Inc., where she is the Vice President of Product Compliance and Regulatory Affairs for the Fortune 500 company. Shortly before joining Cummins, she spent four years at Indianapolis’ Baker and Daniels LLP as a practicing attorney.
Kennedy also has extensive political experience as well. She served as Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson’s director of economic development from 2001-04 and then as Peterson’s deputy mayor from 2004-05. She also launched her own bid for Indianapolis mayor, winning the 2011 Democratic nomination before narrowly losing to incumbent Greg Ballard.
Melina has been an active volunteer throughout her professional career. She is the current president of the Indianapolis Capital Improvements Board, and is also a board member on the Indiana University Health Academic Medical Center; the Indianapolis Impact 100; and the Indiana Conference for Women. In the past, she’s also served on the board for Teach for America; is a past president of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Legacy House; and is a past board member with the Indianapolis Visitors and Convention Association.
Melina lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Tim Broecker. She is the mother of twins, Marcus and Sophia Kennedy.
