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Brees And Douglas Named 1999-2000 Purdue Athletes Of The Year
Junior standouts recognized for football and basketball performances
June 14, 2000
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Football's Drew Brees (Austin, Texas, Westlake H.S.) and basketball's Katie Douglas (Indianapolis, Ind., Perry Meridian H.S.) have been selected as Purdue's Male and Female Athletes of the Year for the 1999-2000 academic year. They will have their names placed in nomination, along with athletes from other conference schools, in voting for Big Ten Athletes of the Year.
Brees and Douglas were chosen by a committee of Purdue Athletic Department administrators from a field of Most Valuable Players and previous Athlete of the Month winners from the 1999-2000 school year. The awards are sponsored by WLFI-TV and Twin City Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth.
Brees, a junior, guided the Boilermakers to a 7-5 record and their third consecutive bowl appearance. The runner-up for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and the Maxwell Award for the nation's top player, Brees finished fourth in Heisman Trophy balloting. He led the Big Ten in attempts (554), completions (337), and passing yards (3,909), averaged a Big Ten-best 325.8 yards passing per game and ranked first in the conference and third nationally in total offense, averaging 340.5 yards per game.
Highlighting Brees' 1999 campaign was a 509-yard, five-touchdown effort in a 52-28 upset of No. 5 Michigan State on Oct. 16. Brees completed a season-high 40 passes in 57 attempts against the Spartans. Three games earlier vs. Northwestern on Sept. 25, Brees went 32-for-50 for 405 yards and three touchdowns, including a 99-yard strike to teammate Vinny Sutherland, good for the longest play from scrimmage in Purdue history.
A second team GTE Academic All-American and a first team All-Big Ten pick, Brees, an industrial management/manufacturing major, was honored as the first recipient of the Socrates Award, which recognizes the nation's finest athlete in terms of academics, athletics and community service. He earned a 4.00 grade-point average last semester and now carries a 3.41 overall GPA.
Douglas, also a junior, led Purdue to a 23-8 record and its third consecutive Big Ten Tournament title. Widely recognized as one of the nation's top 10 players, Douglas earned first team All-America honors from Kodak and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, was named second team All-American by Associated Press and was a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year Award. She was crowned the Big Ten Player of the Year and was a unanimous first team All-Big Ten pick by the coaches and media after leading the conference in scoring (21.1) and ranking fourth in assists (4.9), sixth in free throw percentage (.817), seventh in steals (2.4) and tied for eighth in defensive rebounds (5.3) in 16 league games.
One of the nation's most versatile players, Douglas led the Boilermakers in scoring (20.4), assists (4.7), steals (2.4) and minutes (37.5) and ranked tied for second in rebounding (6.5). She scored her 1,000th-career point vs. Penn State on Jan. 6, and with two rebounds vs. Michigan State on Feb. 17, she became the third player in school history and the first junior to join the 1,000 Points-500-Rebounds-300 Steals-200 Assists Club (also Lisa Jahner and Stephanie White-McCarty). She paced Purdue in scoring 24 times, scoring 20 or more points in 14 games and 30 or more points in four games (including a career-high 31 twice, at Dayton on Nov. 19 and vs. Ohio State on Feb. 3). She posted double-doubles at Louisiana Tech (25 points, 10 rebounds), vs. Minnesota (12 points, career-high 10 assists) and at Indiana (24 points, career-high 15 rebounds).
A communication major, Douglas earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the second consecutive year and was a second team GTE Academic All-American.
1999-2000 PURDUE ATHLETES OF THE MONTH September: Drew Brees (football), Stacy Orschell (golf) October: Chris Daniels (football), Aneska Arosarena (volleyball) November: Brian Cardinal (basketball), Lisa Dolansky (swimming) December: Evan Robinson (wrestling), Camille Cooper (basketball) January: Shaun Guice (track and field), Amy Spellmeyer (track and field) February: Mike Robinson (basketball), Meagan Dooley (softball) March: Brian Cardinal (basketball), Carri Long (track and field) April: Andy Helmer (baseball), Stacy Orschell (golf) May: Dan Underwood (baseball), Kari Damron (golf)