| Year |
Awardee |
Background |
|---|
| 2017 |
Gary Sinise[3] |
Actor, veterans advocate |
| 2016 |
None awarded |
| 2015 |
Timothy Shriver |
CEO of the Special Olympics |
| 2014 |
None awarded |
| 2013 |
Sr. Mary Scullion, RSM |
Activist, co-founder of Philadelphia's Project H.O.M.E. |
| 2012 |
Kevin Ryan |
President of Covenant House International |
| 2011 |
None awarded |
| 2010 |
Sr. Alice Zachman, SSND |
Human rights advocate in Guatemala |
| 2009 |
Ronan Tynan |
Irish singer, Paralympic athlete |
| 2008 |
Kenneth Hackett |
President of Catholic Relief Services |
| 2007 |
None awarded |
| 2006 |
| 2005 |
Darrell Green |
American football player, founder of the Darrell Green Youth Life Foundation |
| 2004 |
Gen. Barry McCaffrey |
United States Army general, national security consultant |
| 2003 |
Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ |
|
| 2002 |
Aaron Neville |
Four time-Grammy Award-winning vocalist |
| 2001 |
Cardinal Avery Dulles |
Jesuit priest, theologian, and Catholic cardinal |
| 2000 |
William H. Graham Sr. |
Former Catholic University of America faculty member |
| 1999 |
Kathryn J. DuFour |
First female judge in the Maryland Circuit Courts and CUA benefactor |
| 1998 |
Lindy Boggs |
US Representative from Louisiana and United States Ambassador to the Holy See |
| 1997 |
Henry Hyde |
US Representative from Illinois |
| Br. Patrick Ellis, FSC |
De La Salle Christian Brother and president of the Catholic University of America |
| 1996 |
Cardinal James Hickey |
Former Archbishop of Washington, DC and chancellor of the Catholic University of America |
| 1995 |
Robert P. Casey |
Former Governor of Pennsylvania |
| 1994 |
Antonin Scalia |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| Richard W. Galiher Sr. |
Attorney and CUA benefactor |
| 1993 | Edward J. Pryzbyla |
President, Edwards Enterprises, alumnus, benefactor |
| 1992 | George J. Quinn |
Chairman, Alton Engineering, alumnus, benefactor |
| 1991 | William J. Byron |
President, The Catholic University of America |
| 1990 | Eunice Kennedy Shriver |
Executive Vice President, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, Founding Chairwoman, Special Olympics International |
| 1989 | William D. Borders |
Retired Archbishop of Baltimore |
| 1988 | Edward Bennett Williams |
Attorney |
| 1988 | Admiral James D. Watkins |
Former Chief of Naval Operations, former secretary of energy, former chairman of Reagan's HIV Task Force |
| 1987 | Philip M. Hannan |
Archbishop of New Orleans, alumnus |
| 1986 | Nancy Reagan |
Former First Lady of the United States of America |
| 1985 | Mildred Fay Jefferson |
M.D., surgeon and pro-life leader |
| 1985 | Gilbert V. Hartke |
Chairman Emeritus, The Catholic University of America Drama Department, alumnus |
| 1984 | Bruce Ritter |
Founder, Covenant House |
| 1983 | None Awarded. | |
| 1982 | Raymond A. DuFour |
president and chairman of the board, DuFour Enterprises, Inc., alumnus, benefactor |
| 1981 | John Tracy Ellis |
Church historian, alumnus |
| 1980 | J. Peter Grace |
Chief Executive Officer, W.R. Grace Co. |
| 1980 | William Cardinal Baum |
Prefect, Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome, former chancellor of The Catholic University of America |
| 1979 | Terence Cardinal Cooke |
Archbishop of New York, alumnus |
| 1978 | Clarence C. Walton |
President, The Catholic University of America, alumnus |
| 1977 | Benjamin T. Rome |
Chairman of the board, Hyman Construction Company, alumnus, benefactor |
| 1976 | Lawrence Cardinal Shehan |
Archbishop of Baltimore |
| 1975 | John J. Sirica |
Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia |
| 1974 | Michael Mansfield |
U.S. Senator |
| 1973 | Helen Hayes |
Actress |
| 1972 | Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle |
Archbishop of Washington and chancellor of the university |
| 1971 | James Walsh |
Superior General, Maryknoll Fathers |
| 1970 | Dr. Carroll Hochwalt |
Former chairman, The Catholic University of America, Board of trustees |
| 1969 | Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. |
President, University of Notre Dame, alumnus |
| 1968 | Danny Thomas |
Entertainer |
| 1967 | James J. Norris |
Assistant to the executive director, Catholic Relief Services |
| 1966 | Earl Warren |
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court |
| 1965 | Sargent Shriver |
Director, Peace Corps |
| 1964 | John A. McCone |
Director, Central Intelligence Agency |
| 1963 | John W. McCormack |
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives |
| 1962 | Luke Edward Hart |
Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus |
| 1961 | Charles G. Fenwick |
Director, Legal Affairs, Organization of American States |
| 1960 | Karl F. Herzfeld |
Physicist |
| 1959 | General Alfred Gruenther |
Past President, American Red Cross |
| 1958 | Thomas E. Murray |
Consultant, Atomic Energy Commission |
| 1957 | Bryan J. McEntegart |
Bishop of Brooklyn |
| 1956 | Ignatius Smith, O.P. |
Dean, The Catholic University of America School of Philosophy |
| 1956 | John F. Kennedy[2] |
U.S. Senator (MA) (Later President of the United States of America) |
| 1955 | General Lawton Collins |
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army |
| 1954 | J. Edgar Hoover |
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| 1953 | Fulton J. Sheen | |
| 1951 | Fulton Oursler |
Author, senior editor, Reader's Digest |
| 1950 | General Carlos Romulo |
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the Philippines |
| 1949 | Carlton J. H. Hayes |
Professor, historian, publicist |