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Hosking Award presented for 1st time during athletics banquet
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President Mark Gearan, Mary Hosking, |
April 29, 2003
GENEVA, N.Y.—During the 2003 William Smith Athletics Awards banquet, the Hosking Award was presented for the first time to Valerie Flournoy ’74. The award recognizes distinguished former student-athletes for outstanding lifetime achievement in their chosen field.
The Hosking Award was established by former Director of Athletics Mary Hosking in honor of her family’s service to Hobart and William Smith Colleges. A founding member of the Heron Society, Mary Hosking served the Colleges as a professor, coach, and administrator for more than 20 years. Her husband, William ’47, was a member of the faculty for nearly 25 years, serving as the chair of the economic department. William I. ’74 graduated from Hobart College with a degree in political science. He worked for the Colleges until 1981, when he became the equipment manager at Drew University.
A member of the basketball and field hockey teams, Flournoy was an active member of the William Smith Athletic Association.
The critically acclaimed author of “The Patchwork Quilt,” Flournoy has written several books for children. “The Patchwork Quilt,” received a 1986 Christopher Award for the Best Children’s Picture Book, an IRC-CBC Children’s Choice Award, and was an American Library Association Notable Book. “The Patchwork Quilt” was a featured selection on PBS’s “Reading Rainbow” and is included in The New York Times Parent’s Guide to the Best Books for Children.
Flournoy was the first recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats Memorial Writer Award, presented by the New York Public Library and has been included in Who’s Who Among African Americans.
A long-time resident of Palmyra, N.J., Flournoy is a former president and current vice president of the Palmyra Board of Education, serving her third consecutive three-year term on the board.