WALTHAM, Mass. – Legendary women's basketball coach Barbara Stevens, a 2020 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and Dallas Mall, who has caught more touchdown passes than anyone to have played college football, are Bentley University's nominees for the NCAA Division II 50th Anniversary Gold Award.

This award, which is part of the division's yearlong 50th anniversary celebration that launched Aug. 7 and will extend through the 2024 Division II Baseball Championship in June, will recognize two individuals (one individual who identifies as male and one who identifies as female) who have made a positive impact in Division II.

The nominees include current and former student-athletes, coaches, faculty members and administrators from active member schools and conferences who have helped shape Division II over time. A total of 231 were submitted, including 22 from Northeast-10 institutions.

"The nominees reflect the considerable impact so many individuals have had on intercollegiate athletics over the years but also the pride the Division II membership demonstrates consistently in providing the experiences that enable young people to make a positive difference in the world," said Terri Steeb Gronau, vice president of Division II.

Conference offices will review the nominated individuals and select two conference winners (one individual who identifies as male and one who identifies as female) by Nov. 6. The NCAA Division II Management Council Identity Subcommittee will review the finalists and select the two overall winners, who will be recognized at the 2024 NCAA Convention in Phoenix.

"The quality of nominees will certainly make it challenging for the Division II Identity Subcommittee to recommend just two Gold Award recipients," Steeb Gronau said. "It truly is eye-opening to read through the candidates' accomplishments and realize how their contributions have made us better as a division."

The accomplishments of Stevens, Bentley's head women's basketball coach from 1986-2020, are unparalleled in NCAA Division II women's basketball history.

The fourth winningest coach in NCAA history behind Tara VanDerveer, Geno Auriemma and Pat Summitt, Stevens retired from a 44-year coaching career with a 1058-291 record, including 901-200 during her 34 Bentley seasons. Her three-plus decades at Bentley featured 31 NCAA Division II tournament appearances, 14 Elite Eights and 38 Northeast-10 championships (21 regular season, 17 tournament).

There were a dozen 30-win seasons with the pinnacle of her coaching career coming in March 2014 when Stevens led her team to the national championship. The Falcons capped a magnificent 35-0 season with a remarkable comeback against West Texas A&M. Down nine with 5:37 to play and six with three minutes remaining, Stevens' squad closed with a press-fueled 19-5 run to prevail 73-65. That was just the second time in Division II history there was an unbeaten national champion.

Stevens, who coached in Division I (UMass) and Division III (Clark) before finding her home in Division II, was recognized as the Russell/WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year an unprecedented five times and earned the Northeast-10 Coach of the Year award 16 times. While she has 1058 career victories, no other coach in Division II women's basketball history has as many as 850.

In the history of NCAA college football, and that covers more than 150 years, no one has caught more career touchdown passes than Bentley's Dallas Mall, who starred for the Falcons from 2001-04. He finished his standout career with a total of 78.

Putting that achievement into perspective, consider that more than five million student-athletes have played college football all-time, according to the National Football Foundation.

Mall, who helped Bentley to a four-year record of 37-7 and NCAA playoff berths in both 2003 and 2004, broke in with a bang as he caught 24 touchdown passes as a freshman in 2001. That broke the NCAA freshman record formerly held by Hall of Famer Randy Moss and remains the standard today.

In addition to having caught more TD passes than anyone in college football history, Mall owns the NCAA Division II records for most games with a touchdown catch (39) and most receiving yards by a freshman. Upon graduation, he also owned the record for most consecutive games with a reception (44).