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Yale's Graves to Receive NCAA Silver Anniversary Award
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Courtesy of Yale Sports PublicityPhoto credit: CNN
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Former Yale men's basketball star Earl "Butch" Graves '84 has been selected as one of six recipients of the 2009 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, presented annually since 1973 to former student-athletes whose collegiate careers ended 25 years ago and who have gone on to excel in their chosen professions. Graves will receive his award at the NCAA Honors and Delegates Celebration on January 15, 2009, during the NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C.
Graves, the captain of the 1983-84 Bulldogs, is Yale's all-time leading scorer with 2,090 career points and is one of only four players in Ivy League history to score at least 2,000 points. He was named first team All-Ivy in both 1983 and 1984 and led the league in scoring in Ivy games three times (1982-84). As a senior in 1983-84, he scored 609 points, the second most in a single season in school history. He also is Yale's career leader in field goals made (816) and field goals attempted (1,635). His 20.3 ppg. career scoring average is tied for the third best in Yale history. He was selected in the third round of the 1984 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers and enjoyed a brief professional career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Graves, who received a bachelor's degree in economics from Yale, is the president & CEO of Earl G. Graves Publishing Co., publisher of Black Enterprise magazine. He is responsible for the strategic positioning and overall profitability of the corporation.
He joined Black Enterprise in 1988 after earning his M.B.A. from Harvard University. His first position with the company was vice president of advertising and marketing. In 1991, he was promoted to senior vice president of advertising and marketing, and in 1995, he was named executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was appointed president and chief operating officer in 1998, and named president and CEO on January 5, 2006.
Under his guidance, the magazine has grown rapidly, realizing more than 10 consecutive years of advertising revenue growth. He has helped establish the strong niche marketing position of Black Enterprise among national business publications and supported award-winning marketing programs that boosted circulation growth. Since 1997, the magazine has been a five-time recipient of the FOLIO: Editorial Excellence Award in the category of business/finance consumer magazines. Black Enterprise has a guaranteed circulation of more than 500,000, and a readership of more than 3.9 million.
Graves has played a leading role in developing the magazine's successful professional networking events--the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference, the Golf & Tennis Challenge, the Women of Power Summit, and the financial empowerment series'--and was instrumental in establishing the Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street Growth Partners, a $91 million private equity investment fund for which he is also a managing partner.
The complete story about Graves and the Award can be found at the Yale Bulldogs athletic website.
- A.S.
