The
Michael A. Carroll Scholarship was first awarded in 1995-96 in memory of former vice president for community affairs at the Lilly Endowment and deputy mayor Michael Carroll, who was killed in a midair plane crash in 1992. Carroll and three others were traveling to Columbus, Ohio's AmeriFlora flower show to gather ideas on beautifying White River State Park.
Carroll was credited with the staging of the 1987 Pan-American Games, which were held in Indianapolis from Aug. 7-23. The games featured 4,300 athletes from 38 countries competing in 30 sports, totaling 1,015 medals.
"There was a tremendous amount of work that needed to be done to just liaison with all the different government entities that needed to be involved in the Pan Am Games,” former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Ted Boehm said. “He was the perfect guy to facilitate that kind of complicated arrangement.”
Carroll was an ardent supporter of IUPUI Athletics, including forming the present day Jaguars Athletics Club in 1981. For more than a decade, he was IUPUI's No. 1 advocate, fundraiser and cheerleader. In addition, he coordinated the department's first-ever fundraising golf outing, that now bears his name. In 1994, he was posthumously inducted as a charter members of the IUPUI Hall of Fame.
The on-campus track and soccer stadium continues to carry his name and to date, nearly one million dollars has been allotted to student-athletes through an endowed scholarship fund. Below are the annual recipients.
