BURNSVILLE, Minn. - Pete Roberts of Augustana University and Dawn Schenk of St. Cloud State University have been named the Northern Sun Conference Noel Olson Volunteer of the Year. Both individuals will be honored with the award during the 20th annual NSIC Hall of Fame Banquet on Tuesday, July 9 at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Lakeville, Minnesota.

The Noel Olson Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes the singular commitment of former NSIC coach and Athletic Administrator Noel Olson and his advancement of NSIC visibility, credibility, and excellence throughout the nation during his tenure in the league. The award is intended to honor individuals who, as volunteers, have made significant contributions to the NSIC as a whole. The award recipients are nominated by each of the NSIC's 16 institutions and selected by the NSIC Hall of Fame Committee.

Olson was the men's basketball coach at St. Cloud State University and was name NIC Coach of the Year during the 1969-70 and 1975-76 seasons after leading the Huskies to NIC Championships. In 1976 he became the athletic director at SCSU. Olson passed away in May of 2019 at the age of 87.

About Pete Roberts:

The heart and soul of sports statistics in South Dakota and throughout the region, Pete Roberts embodies what it means to be the Noel Olson Volunteer of the Year. Roberts has worked both as a part-time and volunteer employee for the Augustana athletic department, where he has made outstanding and countless contributions to the NSIC.

Since 2006, Roberts official role is the Associate Director of Admission Data and Technology, Office of Admission - but his time spent on campus goes far beyond office hours. Over the last 13 years, Roberts has imputed more
than 70 Augustana football games and more than 300 men's and women's basketball games. Since moving the basketball tournament to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, Roberts has also imputed multiple NSIC / Sanford Health Basketball Tournaments games.

On a volunteer basis, Roberts created NSICScores.com, running multiple servers out of his own basement using his personal Midco connection. The website maintains an NSIC live scoreboard as a well as a Central Region live statistics/sports matrix page. The matrix page provides stats, staff, and stretch internet links for every sport from every program in the region. In 2019, he upgraded his technology, splitting the NSICscores basketball page into a men's and women's page for more efficient usage.

Roberts continues to be a resource for every school in the conference, fielding and fixing multiple statistics questions and issues. He has created countless statistics documents to help teach communication staff and also built his own YouTube Channel to teach other schools about stats.

Roberts is a 2002 graduate of Iowa State University and received his master's degree in education from Oklahoma in 2006. Pete and his wife, Carrie, have a daughter, Sienna and twin sons, Isaiah and Samuel. They currently reside in Tea, South Dakota.