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John Doar ’49 receives NCAA Inspiration Award
John Doar ’49, civil rights activist and a four-time letter-winner in basketball at Princeton University in the 1940s, was one of three recipients this year of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Inspiration Award. The award recognizes a current or former coach, administrator or varsity letter-winner at a NCAA-affiliated institution that confronted a life-changing situation with determination and perseverance to become a role model for others.
In 1960, Doar joined the newly established Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department, where he helped enforce federal voting-rights law in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Two years later, he escorted James Meredith, the first African-American student to attend the University of Mississippi, onto that campus. In 1967, he successfully prosecuted seven men accused of murdering three civil rights workers from Mississippi.
Doar spent eight years working in the Civil Rights Division. He continued to handle high-profile cases, and later became special counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in the Watergate hearings. He continues to practice law in New York as senior counsel at Doar Rieck & Mack, focusing on civil litigation, commercial litigation and ethics.
(12/13/05)
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