LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference announced its inaugural class of L.P. Hill Unity in Sports Award honorees for the 2025-26 season. The award recognizes the contributions of an individual or group on each member campus that, through intercollegiate athletics, epitomizes the promise of Unity, Equity, and Access For All. This year, Clarion head men's and women's swimming & diving coach Bree Kelley was named the department's honoree.
 
The award is named after Leslie Pinckney Hill, the first President of Cheyney State Teacher's College. From 1913 to 1950, he was the Principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia and oversaw its establishment as Cheyney State Teachers College.  The Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard-educated son of a former slave taught at Tuskegee Institute and was a renowned educator, writer, poet, and community leader. 
 
In 1927, a year after the first documents that created the Pennsylvania State Normal School Athletic Association, Mr. Hill argued for the inclusion of Cheyney in the Associations bylaws which had been left out in the initial drafting.  The Board of Principals immediately rectified this error, and all 14 state-owned institutions were then included in the Association's initial governing documents.

Kelley was selected for creating an environment within the team to celebrate and support each member and their accomplishments, as well as supporting the breadth of athletic department. In doing so she has created a community for Golden Eagle Athletes.