Nov. 8, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will honor Dr. Ron Rychlak of Oxford with its Contribution to Amateur Football Award here Saturday at halftime of the Ole Miss-Vanderbilt football contest.  Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium/Hollingsworth Field.

The Contribution of Amateur Football Award is presented by the Ole Miss Chapter in honor of those who have made numerous contributions to the college athletics world through a lifetime of service to their fellow man.

“We are pleased to honor Ron for his many contributions to Ole Miss athletics,” said Frank Crosthwait of Indianola, Miss., president of the Ole Miss Chapter.  “He is most deserving of this recognition.”

Dr. Rychlak is the Mississippi Defense Lawyers Association Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he has been on the faculty since 1987.  For 13 years, he served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and he is currently in his sixth year as Chair of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee and the university’s Faculty Athletic Representative.  

Saturday’s presentation to Dr. Rychlak will mark the fourth time for the Ole Miss Chapter to present the  Contribution to Amateur Football Award  to the Chair of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee.   The Ole Miss Chapter, which has presented the award since 1967, previously honored Dr. T. A. Bickerstaff in 1968, Dr. Max Williams in 1998 and Dr. Robert Weems in 2007.  

Dr. Rychlak is a graduate of Wabash College (cum laude) and Vanderbilt University School of Law (Order of the Coif).  Prior to joining the faculty at Ole Miss, he worked in Memphis, Tenn., as a clerk to Judge Harry Wellford of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, and he practiced law in Chicago with Jenner & Block, where he was a member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Sports Law Committee.  

He is a member of the committee appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court to revise the state’s criminal code, and also serves as a member of the Mississippi Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.  He has been published in the Mississippi Law Journal, Notre Dame Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Boston College Law Review, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and numerous other periodicals and journals.  

Ron and his wife, Claire, have six children, three of whom are currently students at Ole Miss.