University of Tennessee Athletics
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VFL Gault Named 2020 BOSS Legend Award Recipient
December 12, 2019 | Football, Track & Field
LONG BEACH, Calif. - VFL and Tennessee Sports Hall of Famer Willie Gault (1979-82) received the 2020 BOSS Legend Award for his lifetime of achievements on and off the field, the award committee announced recently.
The Business of Success Beyond Sport (BOSS) is an organization that focuses on holistic development of young male student-athletes of color from low to moderate income homes to help them excel beyond the playing field through enrichment programing and mentorship.
Gault, a world-class track and field athlete and Super Bowl champion, has exemplified success beyond the playing field and lived out the organizations six pillars – Mentally BOSS, Emotionally BOSS, Socially BOSS, Physically BOSS, Economically BOSS and Spiritually BOSS.
While on the gridiron for Tennessee, Gault caught 89 passes for 1,482 yards and 10 touchdowns, returned 78 kickoffs for 1,854 yards and four touchdowns and returned 78 punts for 659 yards and a touchdown. On the track he set an SEC record in the 110-meter high hurdles at the 1981 SEC Championships and then again in 1982, when he received the Commissioner's Trophy for the highest overall score. Gault won the 60-yard dash and 60-yard high hurdles at the 1983 NCAA Championships before becoming part of the 4x100-meter relay team that set a world record in the 1983 World Championships.
After 11 seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams, where he won Super Bowl XX with the Bears, Gault retired to pursue an acting career in the early 1990s. He made appearances on several sitcoms and also portrayed Willie the Sweeper in the NBC series The Pretender.
Gault also owned IBS Capital Holdings, a private equity firm where he worked with L.A. billionaire Ron Burkle to lead an investor group that acquired control of Aloha Airgroup Inc. in a $100-million deal to help the small Honolulu-based carrier emerge from bankruptcy.
A world champion sprinter and NCAA champion hurdler, Gault co-founded Athletes for Life charity to deliver medical services to people who need them, including a portable echocardiogram.
Gault is the father of two, Gabe and Shakari Gault-Okwudibonye.
The Business of Success Beyond Sport (BOSS) is an organization that focuses on holistic development of young male student-athletes of color from low to moderate income homes to help them excel beyond the playing field through enrichment programing and mentorship.
Gault, a world-class track and field athlete and Super Bowl champion, has exemplified success beyond the playing field and lived out the organizations six pillars – Mentally BOSS, Emotionally BOSS, Socially BOSS, Physically BOSS, Economically BOSS and Spiritually BOSS.
While on the gridiron for Tennessee, Gault caught 89 passes for 1,482 yards and 10 touchdowns, returned 78 kickoffs for 1,854 yards and four touchdowns and returned 78 punts for 659 yards and a touchdown. On the track he set an SEC record in the 110-meter high hurdles at the 1981 SEC Championships and then again in 1982, when he received the Commissioner's Trophy for the highest overall score. Gault won the 60-yard dash and 60-yard high hurdles at the 1983 NCAA Championships before becoming part of the 4x100-meter relay team that set a world record in the 1983 World Championships.
After 11 seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams, where he won Super Bowl XX with the Bears, Gault retired to pursue an acting career in the early 1990s. He made appearances on several sitcoms and also portrayed Willie the Sweeper in the NBC series The Pretender.
Gault also owned IBS Capital Holdings, a private equity firm where he worked with L.A. billionaire Ron Burkle to lead an investor group that acquired control of Aloha Airgroup Inc. in a $100-million deal to help the small Honolulu-based carrier emerge from bankruptcy.
A world champion sprinter and NCAA champion hurdler, Gault co-founded Athletes for Life charity to deliver medical services to people who need them, including a portable echocardiogram.
Gault is the father of two, Gabe and Shakari Gault-Okwudibonye.
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