Recent alumna infielder of the softball team Samantha Camuso was the female recipient of this year’s Pac-12 Tom Hansen Conference Medal.
Former UCLA athletes Samantha Camuso and Andy Rose managed to successfully overcome a demanding combination of scholarly and athletic pursuits and finished their collegiate careers named UCLA’s outstanding senior male and female student-athletes.
As a result of their combination of achievements, Camuso and Rose were awarded the Tom Hansen Conference Medal. The medal is awarded by the Pac-12 every year to the top senior male and female athletes of each institution based on “the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership.”
Although the award came as a surprise to Camuso, a former member of the UCLA softball team who graduated this spring with a degree in psychobiology, she said the recognition is representative of the hard work she demonstrated throughout her years as a Bruin. “I think it’s just the philosophy of UCLA and being a student-athlete at UCLA,” Camuso said.
“We’re expected to perform at the top of everything we do, according to the John Wooden Pyramid of Success (to achieve) competitive greatness. I think I used that philosophy both in the classroom and (on) the softball field.”
In her senior year, Camuso earned a number of athletic accolades, including a third-team National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American honors and was selected as a member of the first-team NFCA All-West Region and a first-team Pac-12 All-Academic selection.
Camuso’s competitive mentality also helped her overcome some major challenges in her career.
In 2008, she was one of three players to start in all 60 games, but she missed the entire 2009 season because of injuries, using a medical redshirt.
For softball coach Kelly Inouye-Perez, Camuso’s ability to overcome these challenges is her most remarkable asset, and what helps her to succeed on and off of the field.
“Samantha is a solid academics athlete,” Inouye-Perez said. “She had a challenging major and she was also injured (and had) three different surgeries throughout her career as a Bruin. Through (all that) adversity she was able to maintain her GPA and she finished having her best year.”
Much like Camuso, Rose’s impact on UCLA as a student-athlete made him worthy of the medal in the eyes of the conference. But for him, the impact of his leadership on the soccer team is what made him stand out from the rest.
Rose currently plays for the Seattle Sounders of Major League Soccer. He was in Seattle when he found out he had won the award, and although Rose was unable to come back to Los Angeles to attend the ceremony, he said he received the news with enthusiasm.
Since the beginning of his collegiate career, Rose displayed signs that foreshadowed his success.
In his freshman year, Rose was voted the team’s Rookie of the Year and was one of just four freshmen on the All-Pac-10 squads.
As a senior, he was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection and was named an honorable mention Pac-12 All-Academic selection. He also started in all 24 games and was voted UCLA’s team MVP.
After playing in every game for two consecutive years and being named team captain as a junior and senior, Rose exemplified the leadership the award honors.
“Leadership means a lot to me,” Rose said.
“I learned a lot about leadership from the coaching staff at UCLA and I felt like a (good fit as) captain for our team, so I’m very proud and I’m very excited about (receiving the medal).”