NORTHBROOK, Ill. – Senior Jami Morris (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) was honored as one of 20 student-athletes named to the inaugural Allstate NACDA Good Works Spring Team as announced by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics on Tuesday morning.
These 20 student-athletes are recognized for their exceptional achievements in community service, athletics and academics. This year marks the first-ever expansion of the Good Works Team to include student-athletes from all collegiate sports and divisions.
The final team was voted on by the program’s esteemed Selection Committee from an impressive pool of nearly 200 nominees nationwide. These student-athletes represent 10 spring sports and five collegiate divisions, demonstrating the far-reaching impact of student- athletes in their communities.
Morris, a Big Ten Jackie Robinson Community and Impact Award nominee, was inspired by her mother’s lymphoma diagnosis in 2020 and used her passion for the game of golf founding Hit Fore Hope to give back to the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio, the hospital which has treated her mom and given her a second chance at life.
Morris started the 'Hit Fore Hope' fundraiser at her home course of Beechmont Country Club in Ohio. Despite setting a goal of raising $10,000-$12,000, in that first year Jami raised over $71,000 with 100% of the proceeds going to the hospital. This past summer at the third annual event she raised $107,000 to add to a total of over $280,000 for the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals.
A corporate innovation and entrepreneurship major and two-time Academic All-B1G member, Morris will graduate in May with a GPA north of 3.5 and hopes to use her degree and experience to gradually grow ‘Hit Fore Hope’. She eventually wants to see it expand to include pickleball and yoga events while keeping the golf portion as the main focus. Her immediate goal is to build a presence in Ohio and then branch out to additional states including Florida, California and Texas where she has extended family and connections to help with hosting events.