Chaminade cited for excellence award

The Chaminade men’s basketball team was selected as the Pacific West Conference’s winner of the Division II Award of Excellence for its role in making the dream of a former high school basketball player to be on a college team come true.

Chaminade and the Make-A-Wish Foundation brought Xhosa Fray-Chinn to Hawaii and made him an honorary member of the Silverswords during his Aug. 16 visit to campus. He was presented with a game jersey and participated in warm-ups during a surprise assembly at McCabe Gym.

Fray-Chinn, a promising Florida high school basketball player, suffered a heart attack in the summer of 2012. He was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, had an internal defibrillator placed in his heart and was told he could never play competitive basketball again.

Each of the 24 Division II conferences and independents had one school selected as the conference winner. The pool of 24 will be whittled to three, with the overall national winner being announced at the NCAA Convention next month in San Diego.

The Award of Excellence recognizes community engagement and positive game environment. Each Division II school and conference can submit any activity that exemplifies excellence in any of Division II’s six attributes.