2007 - The Statler Brothers
2006 - Ricky Rudd, NASCAR driver
2005 - Dr. William Kelso, archaeologist
2004 - Ralph Stanley, musician
2003 - David Baldacci, author
2002 - Katharine Graham, publisher, The Washington Post*
2001 - Dr. Larry J. Sabato, political science professor, University of Virginia
2000 - Dr. James Robertson, history professor, Virginia Tech
1999 - David Goode, CEO, Norfolk Southern Corp.
1998 - Tim & Daphne Maxwell Reid, filmmakers
1997 - Roger Mudd, broadcast journalist
1996 - Jeff MacNelly, cartoonist
1995 - Patricia Cornwell, author
1994 - Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, editor-in-chief, Reader's Digest
1993 - Spencer Christian, television personality
1992 - Bruce Hornsby, musician
1991 - Mills E. Godwin Jr., fomer Virginia governor
1990 - John Marsh, secretary of the Army
1989 - June Carter Cash, musician
1988 - Harry F. Byrd Jr., former U.S. senator
1987 - Willard Scott, television personality
1986 - Willie Lanier, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
1985 - Bernard M. Ferber, CEO of Kmart
1984 - James J. Kilpatrick, journalist and columnist
1983 - Roy Clark, musician
1982 - Arthur Ashe, tennis champion and humanitarian
1981 - William Styron, author
1980 - Dr. George D. Watkins, scholar
1979 - Samuel Gravely Jr., vice admiral, U.S. Navy
1978 - Dr. Lemuel W. Diggs, sickle cell anemia researcher
1977 - W. Graham Claytor Jr., secretary of the Navy
1976 - Robert B. Pamplin, chairman and CEO, Georgia-Pacific
1975 - John D. deBurns, chairman and CEO, AT&T
1974 - No award presented
1973 - Earl Hamner, creator of "The Waltons"
1972 - Hugh Scott - former U.S. senator
1971 - Ross R. Millhiser, president, Philip Morris USA
1970 - Frank McCarthy, movie producer
1969 - C. Vernon Cowan, vice president of operations, C&O and B&O
1968 - Dr. G. John Coll, president of the fibers division, Allied Chemical Corp.
1967 - Christopher C. Kraft Jr., director of flight operations, NASA Manned Space Flight Program
*Awarded posthumously
