Steve Gardiner (SMU '74) enjoyed a solid athletic career at SMU, earning multiple varsity letters and playing an important role on SMU's undefeated 1971 cross country team. But Gardiner is being inducted in the Corsair Athletic Hall of Fame for his continued support of UMass Dartmouth and his contributions to student-athletes as a cross country coach and track and field coach at New Bedford High School for more than 20 seasons. In his nomination letter, former SMU teammate William Kelly (SMU '75) described Gardiner's coaching career by writing, "In my judgment, no area individual has had a greater effect on these two sports than Steve Gardiner." On several occasions throughout his scholastic coaching career, Gardiner has been selected The Boston Globe Division I Coach of the Year for regularly sending top quality individuals and teams to state championship meets. Several of his athletes have gone on to enjoy collegiate careers, many at top schools across the nation. In describing Gardiner's coaching career, Kelly praised him for playing an important role in the personal development of all of his student-athletes. "Today, the image of sports at all levels that the public so often encounters is of athletes and coaches who are stars in their own movies, who prize celebrity over competence, who celebrate the individual at the expense of the team. A coach like Steve Gardiner reminds everyone that this image isn't always the case, that an athletic program where the emphasis is on the mastery of fundamentals and the sheer joy of competition is alive and well."