UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Former Penn State women's basketball great Susan Robinson Fruchtl was honored as one of six recipients of the 2017 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award on Jan. 18 at the NCAA Honors Celebration inside the the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.
The honor, bestowed upon outstanding former student-athletes on the 25th anniversary of the end of their intercollegiate athletics eligibility, was presented along with the Theodore Roosevelt Award, Award of Valor and Inspiration Award during the annual NCAA Convention.
The 2017 recipients also included Ty Detmer (BYU, football), Alonzo Mourning (Georgetown, men’s basketball), Heather Taggart (Wisconsin, women’s soccer), Tommy Vardell (Stanford, football) and Troy Vincent (Wisconsin, football).
Susan Robinson Fruchtl spent four seasons on the court for the blue and white, graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in exercise and sports science. After her graduation, she went on to earn a master's degree in higher education from Penn State in 1998 and a master's degree in secondary guidance from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in 2000.
The fourth Penn State student-athlete to receive the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, Robinson Fruchtl joins Mike Reid (football, 1995), Dave Joyner (football/wrestling, 1997) and Todd Blackledge (football, 2008) as honorees to don the blue and white. She is also the first Big Ten women’s basketball student-athlete to earn the recognition.
A standout on the basketball court, Robinson is one of only two players in Penn State history to score 2,000 points and record 1,000 rebounds. Ending her career as the school's career leader in points scored, Robinson Fruchtl currently sits No. 3 on Penn State's all-time scoring charts at 2,253 points and remains No. 2 on the career rebounds charts with 1,070 boards. One of four retired numbers in Lady Lion history, Robinson Fruchtl started 122-straight games -- every game of her career -- and was twice apart of the USA Basketball family; 1990 U.S. Select Team and 1989 U.S. Junior Team.
As a senior, the Center Point, West Virginia, native garnered CoSIDA Academic All-America first team, Kodak Women's Basketball Coaches Association All-America first team and U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-America first team. She earned the 1992 Wade Trophy as the national player of the year and was recognized by the NCAA as a Top VIII Award recipient. Robinson Fruchtl also received the NCAA postgraduate scholarship and the Rawlings postgraduate scholarship following her senior season.
An assistant coach for Penn State's women's basketball team until 2007, she accepted her first head coaching post at Saint Francis (Pa.) University, where she was named the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year in 2011 after leading her team to a conference championship. From 2012-16, she led the women's basketball program at Providence College, before returning to Saint Francis as the director of athletics for the Red Flash in 2016.
As she was during her time as a student-athlete at Penn State, Robinson Fruchtl continues to lend her time to various causes. She volunteers in her spare time with Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and the Special Olympics.