The Boulder Chapter of the University of Colorado Alumni Association will award three $2,500 scholarships to Boulder area high school seniors and the annual Community Service Award to Cliff Meely, former CU basketball star, at a reception May 7.
The Dollars for Scholars reception will be from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Koenig Alumni Center and is open to all Boulder area CU alumni. Admission is free.
In addition to recognizing the three scholarship recipients, Meely will be honored for his contributions to the Boulder community through his work as a study skills teacher with the Boulder Valley School District and as Dropout Prevention Community Liaison for the Boulder Valley Schools.
Meely also has been the director and fund-raiser of the Cliff Meely Youth Basketball Program in Boulder since 1989 and was a volunteer assistant coach at Fairview High School. He is a former member of the executive committee of the CU Alumni Association.
During his CU basketball career, Meely led the Buffs to the Big Eight championship in 1969. He was voted Most Valuable Player in the Big Eight Conference during the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons, leading the league in scoring and rebounding both seasons. A College All-American in 1971 and CU聮s all-time scoring and rebounding leader, Meely聮s uniform, No. 20, was retired that year.
Meely was selected in the first round of the 1971 National Basketball
Association draft by Houston, playing for the Rockets from 1971 to 1975. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1976-77 and was a professional player-coach in Italy and France for several years before going to work for the Council of Government Youth Corps in San Antonio, Texas.
In his current position as a study skills teacher with the Boulder Valley School District, Meely administers and coordinates the 504 disability act and teaches study skills to high school students. His bachelor聮s degree from CU in 1971 was in recreation administration and he recently earned his master聮s in education counseling from the University of Phoenix.
As part of the reception program, Professor Hara Tzavella-Evjen of the classics department at CU-Boulder will give a brief talk before the scholarships are presented.
The three Boulder area high school students who will receive alumni scholarships of $2,500 each during their freshman year at CU-Boulder are:
聲 Sonemala Phommatha of Broomfield, a senior at Standley Lake High School.
聲 Chad Creasey of Boulder, a senior at Fairview High School.
聲 Nathaniel Schultz of Westminster, a senior at Standley Lake High School.