Athletic Department Awards

The Monilaw Medal, created by legendary coach William "Doc" Monilaw in 1916, was the highest possible achievement for male athletes at University High School. The legacy of the award lives on in the lives of the students who fondly remember how they learned to appreciate sports and sportsmanship while in high school.

Monilaw grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and completed medical training at Drake University in Des Moines. Instead of becoming a doctor, he became a coach at Drake as his interest in athletics and working with young people grew. From Drake he went to the University of Missouri where he helped to organize the Missouri Valley Athletic Conference. When universities began offering financial incentives co cop athletes, Monilaw accepted an offer from a friend, Amos Alonzo Stagg, to come to the University of Chicago. Stagg and Monilaw shared a vision of clean competition in amateur sports.

In 1909, Monilaw became Medical Examiner and Head of Department of Physical Education at the Elementary and High School levels. In 1916 he established the award and had a medal produced. "Dr. Monilaw began the practice of giving a beautiful gold medal to the boy who had done the most for the school" (1917 Correlator) "... to award the medal to the boy who stood highest in athletic ability, social leadership, and scholarship combined. Lucky is the boy who gets it. He may be justly proud."

The Monilaw Medal was phased out in the 1970's. Stanford Goldblatt ('54) and Ben W. Heineman Jr. (61), both winners of the Monilaw Medal teamed up with other Lab alumni to form the Monilaw Fund during the Campaign for the Athletic Complex in the late '90s. "We think of this fund as a way of giving something back to the Schools and a way of showing our respect for the memory of Dr. Monilaw," said Goldblatt. "There is no question that we learned a great deal from competition. You learn lessons for life, like how to remain calm under pressure," said Heineman.

In May 2005, the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Athletic Department reestablished the Monilaw Medal. University High School now awards the Monilaw Medal to two female and two male recipients who have demonstrated the highest level of athletic ability, sportsmanship, civic leadership and scholarship during their involvement in athletics at University High.

The Athletic Director Award was renamed in 2014 to the Bill Zarvis Award in honor of faculty emeritus, Bill Zarvis. From 1948 - 1978, Zarvis served as Chair of the Physical Education Department and Athletic Director of the Laboratory Schools. During the summer months, Bill and his wife, Chris, also a teacher at Lab, ran Zarvies Day Camp, a popular summer camp program from 1949 - 1974 at Lab. The establishment of their long-running camp next led to Mac Willies Day Camp, previous Summer Lab programs - Adventure Kids, Fun-in-the-Sun, and Lab Sports Camps, and current Summer Lab programs - Lab Explorers and Lab Adventurers.