BERKELEY – Yancy Lindsey, a tight end on the 1983 and `84 Joe Kapp-led California football teams is the recipient of the 2023 Glenn Seaborg Award and will be honored during the Golden Bears' football game against Arizona State on Saturday at California Memorial Stadium.

Named in honor of the Nobel Laureate and former UC Berkeley chancellor, the Seaborg Award is presented annually to a former Cal football player for his career accomplishments and who represents the honored Cal principles and traditions of excellence in academics, athletics, leadership and attitude.

"I was shocked but deeply honored to even be considered for an award like this," Lindsey said. "I'm just a knuckle-dragging pilot that did 37 years in the Navy and didn't expect to rise to that level of notoriety, so to speak. So it was really nice of Cal to even consider me, let alone select me."

Raised in Phoenix, Lindsey played quarterback for Phoenix Christian High School and was not heavily recruited, landing at Phoenix Community College where he continued to play under center for two seasons.

After his two years at Phoenix CC, Lindsey was recruited by both Cal and Arizona, the latter where his dad, Ben Lindsey, was the head men's basketball coach. It would have been easy for Lindsey to choose to play for Arizona to be close to family, but it was a special visit by Robert Steidel, who was the Dean of the College of Engineering and a big supporter of the athletics department, during his visit to Berkeley that made the difference.


"That just really impressed me," Lindsey said. "I really felt like they wanted me there. They really cared about me so that was what did it for me. The school had such a great reputation and I wanted to study engineering, so it was perfect."

Lindsey credits Steidel and the coaches and staff – led by Kapp, who Lindsey described as an "amazing guy and incredible motivator who really cared about his players" – for helping him navigate the academic rigors of obtaining his degree.

Lindsey played a total of 22 games across the 1983 and 1984 seasons, but it was the game at UCLA on Oct. 22, 1983, that he remembers most for scoring his lone touchdown of his career on a pass from quarterback Gale Gilbert. He still has that football to this day.

"I felt like I actually accomplished something as a football player," Lindsey said. "But I'll be honest - football and a scholarship were a means to an education for me. Football was never going to be a career or anything I did beyond college. It paid for school and that's what I was really happy about."

When planning for life after Cal, Lindsey didn't foresee a future in the military as he was going through numerous interviews for engineering positions. As he prepared to return to Arizona to see if he could land a job close to home, he had a conversation with a high school friend who was flying planes in the Navy.

"I said to myself, 'that sounds kind of cool,'" Lindsey said.  "I'd never even thought about flying airplanes. I decided to talk to the recruiter (and) a month later I was on my way to Pensacola, Florida, and going through aviation officer candidate school."

Lindsey's Naval career took off from there and he experienced numerous highlights during his service that took him all around the world. After graduating from flight school, he was able to fly C-130s to Antarctica as well as all over the continent on logistics missions, transporting scientists and supporting the National Science Foundation. He also had deployments in Hawaii, the Samoan Islands and New Zealand. Lindsey was also stationed on an aircraft carrier where he was able to fly an E-2 Hawkeye, which is a goal of most Navy pilots.

After his flying days ended, Lindsey was put the commanding officer of Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. Following that assignment, Lindsey achieved the honor of being named a three-star vice admiral in 2020 and put in charge of 69 Navy installations worldwide.

One of the teammates Lindsey still keeps in contact with is former Cal linebacker and current Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera, whose locker was next to his. It just so happened that over Lindsey's last three years in the Navy, he was stationed in Washington, D.C., so the two were able to reconnect. Former Cal offensive lineman Mark Long is another teammate Lindsey has remained close with; the two arrived at Cal as junior college recruits at the same time and roomed together.
Lindsey sees a lot of parallels between football and his time in service.

"The team aspect definitely translates from sports into the military - the criticality of each person doing their job, performing their mission," Lindsey said. "Being an expert at what they do - not trying to be an expert at everything - but just performing their role and how that combines overall into being able to accomplish the mission."

Upon retiring in 2023, Lindsey moved back to the Phoenix area with his wife, Stacey, to spend more time with his family.

Not a bad career for a self-described knuckle-dragging pilot.

Established in 1995, the Seaborg Award has been presented 27times previously. Past winners are:
 
1995 – Rod Franz
1996 – John Najarian, M.D.
1997 – John Ralston
1998 – Les Richter
1999 – Vic Bottari
2000 – Pete Schabarum
2001 – Ed Bartlett
2002 – Ray Willsey
2003 – Jack Hart
2004 – Bob Karpe
2005 – Harry Agler
2006 – Chris Markey
2007 – George Stathakis
2008 – Nick Veliotes
2009 – John Garamendi
2010 – Pete Domoto
2011 – Dick Erickson
2012 – Thelton Henderson
2013 – Mike White
2014 – Jim Hanifan
2015 – Paul Larson
2016 – Jack Clark
2017 – Ed White
2018 – Burl Toler Jr.
2019 – Craig Morton
2020 – Not Awarded
2021 – Steve Grealish
2022 – Andy Bark