Dr. Ellen Mayer Sabik '84 accepts her GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame Award from NBC sportscaster Dick Enberg, right. Dr. Eric Topol, left, chairman of the department of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, was Mayer Sabik's presenter.
For Dr. Ellen Mayer Sabik '84, May 6, 1997, was an evening to remember. The former Cornell gymnast-turned-cardiologist joined three other former student-athletes that night as inductees into the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Other inductees basking in the limelight that evening were Todd Blackledge, a quarterback who led Penn State University to the 1982 national football championship; Tracy Caulkins Stockwell of the University of Florida, who won three swimming gold medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles; and Tim Foley, a three-time all-Big Ten defensive back at Purdue who starred on two Miami Dolphins Super Bowl championship teams.
These four joined 40 previous inductees and three honorary members, many of whom were in attendance at the ceremonies. The former inductees included Cornell alumnus Joe Holland '78, who entered the hall in 1991.
Mayer Sabik called the evening's festivities "a fantasy. It was better than anything my husband and I could imagine. I was really inspired, and nervous, by the Hall of Fame members and the over 400 people in attendance."
During her acceptance speech, Mayer Sabik said, "Being a successful student-athlete in college is the beginning of being a successful person in life. I'm thankful that Cornell taught me to be dedicated to succeed. I learned to be dedicated to the task at hand."
At the end of her speech, the cardiologist looked down from the podium and saw Hall of Famer Bill Walton, the former UCLA and NBA basketball standout, give her the thumbs-up, and this, she said, was a special moment for her.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate who graduated cum laude in all subjects at Cornell, Mayer Sabik was a four-year letter-winner in gymnastics. She won the 1984 New York state vault title and finished second on the balance beam at the Ivy League championships. After her Big Red career, she graduated from Harvard Medical School, where she met her husband, Dr. Joseph Sabik, and earned a cardiology fellowship to Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. A resident of Shaker Heights, Ohio, she now serves as a staff cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, often working with her husband as a surgical team.
"The members of the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame's 10th anniversary class serve as shining examples for today's student-athletes," said Charles R. Lee '62, GTE chairman and chief executive officer and a member of the Cornell Board of Trustees.
To be eligible for the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame, an athlete must have been a GTE Academic All-America team member with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. In addition, a nominee's class must have been graduated for at least 10 years. Hall of Fame selections also are based on career and community achievements. The Academic All-America teams program was established by the College Sports Information Directors of America in 1952, and each year 684 student-athletes are chosen by this organization. GTE has been the exclusive sponsor of the program since 1985.
Mayer Sabik also took part, during the day, in a roundtable discussion with other inductees on how to inspire today's youth.
"It was a fantastic discussion and it was invigorating to sit around and talk with people such as Lee Roy Selmon (Oklahoma) and Steve Taylor (Delaware)," Mayer Sabik said. "It was another highlight of a wonderful three days."
Some of the other Hall of Famers present at the 10th annual ceremony were Pat Haden of the University of Southern California, Carlos Alvarez of the University of Florida, Howard Twilley of the University of Tulsa, Jamaal Wilkes of UCLA, John Wooden of UCLA and Michelle Johnson of the Air Force.
Dick Enberg, sportscaster for NBC and master of ceremonies for the event, also received an award for his many contributions to the Academic Hall of Fame program. It was Enberg who called Mayer Sabik in Cleveland to tell her the good news on her selection.
And when it was all said and done, Mayer Sabik summed up the event by saying, "It was an experience of a lifetime."