Hodge named 'Big Ten Icon' No. 49

Hodge named 'Big Ten Icon' No. 49

University Park, Pa. — Former Nittany Lion women's volleyball player Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) has been named Big Ten Icon No. 49 as one of the top 50 student-athletes in Big Ten history. Hodge was one of two icons, the other being legendary Iowa wrestler Tom Brands.

Big Ten Icons, presented by Discover, is the Big Ten Network's most ambitious multiplatform initiative to date. The program is counting down the top 50 student-athletes in Big Ten history based solely on their collegiate careers. Hodge and Brands represent the first two Icons to be named in the series.

Hodge was a four-year letterwinner and guided the Nittany Lions to an unprecedented three straight NCAA National Championships. The four-time AVCA First Team All-American helped Penn State to 102 consecutive match wins. She was awarded the Honda-Broderick Cup in 2009, given to the top collegiate female student-athlete, and was the 2009 AVCA Division I National Player of the Year. In addition, Hodge was a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year honoree, a four-time First Team All-Big Ten selection, a finalist for the AAU Sullivan Award and an ESPY nominee. She was named the Penn State Female Athlete of the Year, the Touchdown Club of Columbus Female Athlete of the Year and also received the Suzy Favor Award as the Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year.

Off the court Hodge was an excellent student. She was honored as an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American in 2008 and garnered first team accolades in 2009. She went on to be named the Academic All-American of the Year for volleyball. Hodge picked up Academic All-Big Ten laurels three times and graduated in May, 2010 with a degree in Business.

Icons 50 through 21 will be unveiled between now and Sept. 16 at www.BigTenIcons.com. The website also will feature essays, video and other key facts about each student-athletes' career. Viewers can participate in the "Talk of the Locker Room" contest with a chance to win the $10,000 grand prize. Weekly winners will take home a 55-inch Phillips HD television. The television show debuts Sept. 18 following a Big Ten Network football telecast in which Icon No. 20 will be revealed. The countdown continues at 9 p.m. ET every Tuesday night through the end of football season and into the spring.

The Big Ten Network is available to more than 75 million homes across the United States and Canada, and has agreements with more than 300 affiliates. The Big Ten Network, though, is not carried by Adams, Blue Ridge and MetroCast cable in Pennsylvania. The network also is not available to Armstrong Cable customers in western Pennsylvania and suburban Youngstown, Ohio. A combined total of more than 35,000 Penn State alumni live in communities served by the four cable providers, in addition to thousands more fans and current Penn State students.

About the Big Ten Network: A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, the Big Ten Network is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With approximately 350 live sporting events, and nearly all of them in HD, the network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. The network operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, showcasing a wide array of classic-to-current sports and televising more Olympic sporting events and women's sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation's finest universities. Each year, the network offers between 35 and 40 football games, 105 regular season men's basketball games; 55 women's basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Championship events; studio shows; coaches' shows; and classic games.

The network is available to more than 75 million homes across the United States and Canada, and has agreements with more than 300 affiliates, including DirecTV, DISH Network, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS, Atlantic Broadband, Bright House, Cablevision, CATV Service, Inc., Charter, Comcast, Cox (Cleveland, Omaha, Northern Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Las Vegas), Insight, Mediacom, Midcontinent, Nittany Media, RCN, Rogers Cable, Canada), Service Electric, Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct (Canada), Shen-Heights TV, Time Warner Cable, Western Broadband, Windstream and WOW.