Hamilton College basketball player Kena Gilmour ’20 (New Paltz, N.Y./Kent School [Conn.]) was selected the male winner of the 2020 Jostens Trophy in an announcement made by the Rotary Club of Salem (Virginia) on Monday, March 23.
Jostens Trophy Winners Release
Gilmour is the second Hamilton men’s basketball player that has received the award since its inception in 1998. Michael Schantz ’99, who scored 2,185 points in his four-year career and was a two-time all-American, was the 1999 winner.
The Jostens Trophy is a national award created by the Rotary Club of Salem and takes into account basketball ability, academic prowess and community service. The trophy models the Rotary International motto of “Service Above Self” by recognizing those who fit the ideal of the well-rounded NCAA Division III student-athlete.
Gilmour made the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district team, the D3hoops.com all-region team and the all-NESCAC team for the third time earlier this month. The government major and women's and gender studies minor has a cumulative grade point average of 3.70 and earned a spot on the NESCAC winter all-academic team for the third year in a row. He was voted to the 2019-20 Academic All-America® NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America and placed on the first team. Gilmour received several campus awards including the Gerald Fitzgerald Dale Senior Scholarship, Ned Doyle Prize Scholarship and Michael Maslyn Prize Scholarship.
The 6-foot, 4-inch guard finished this season with a scoring average of 22.0 points per game as he started 24 contests and averaged 5.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals. Gilmour led the Continentals to an overall record of 16-9 and a fourth straight NESCAC championship quarterfinal appearance. He finished his career in fifth place on the team’s all-time scoring list with 1,935 points. The men's basketball team advanced to the third round of the NCAA championship in Gilmour's sophomore and junior years. He collected all-America awards from the coaches and D3hoops.com in 2019 when he was named the NABC district and NESCAC player of the year.
Some of Gilmour’s community service highlights include Clinton Elementary School’s “Fun Fridays,” which allows students to see college athletes as role models, and participation in relief and fundraising efforts for at least six organizations. This past year, Gilmour worked with Hamilton Associate Athletic Director Dr. Miriam Merrill to create the Athletes of Color Initiative, a support group for students of color at the College. He also was the residential advisor for Hamilton’s Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) this past summer, providing live-in guidance and support to 40 pre-matriculated students.
