Lyndonville, VT - This past Saturday, prior to tip-off of the championship game of the 2026 Men's Vermont State University Tip-Off Classic, VTSU Lyndon alumnus Gregory Gonyea Jr. '25 (Dolgeville, NY) was presented with the 2025-26 North Atlantic Conference Man of the Year Award. Vermont State University Associate Vice President of Athletics Deanna Tyson made the formal presentation. Gonyea was joined by his parents, Greg and Lee, and his fiancé, Madisen.
At the conclusion of each academic year, the NAC names its Man and Woman of the Year. The Man and Woman of the Year awards encompass all facets of the student-athlete experience and are the highest honors bestowed by the conference. Gonyea was announced as the 2025-26 winner in June, with the formal on campus presentation taking place on Saturday.
Gonyea is continuing his education through VTSU, working toward his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Organizational Leadership. He has a 3.89 grade point average to date. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a Management concentration and a minor in Marketing in May of 2025, completing his degree in three years with a 3.94 grade point average.
At the 2025 commencement, Gonyea was presented with the VTSU Lyndon Alumni Council Outstanding Graduatiing Senior Award, He was also named the Outstanding Senior Business Student. As an undergrad, he was named to the President's List five times and the Dean's List once.
Gonyea was named the NAC Men's Basketball Outstanding Senior Scholar Athlete for 2024-25. He has been named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team and the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court as a junior, a senior, and a grad student and was a NAC All-Academic Team selection in all four years at Lyndon.
Gonyea served on Lyndon's Student Athlete Advisory Committee for four years and was SAAC Vice President as a junior and a senior. He was also one of 300 people nationally selected to attend the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in 2023.
Gonyea was the captain of the men's basketball team in each of the final three seasons. He received the Michael Tessier Award as a junior and a senior, and was selected as the Most Outstanding Teammate as a freshman and a grad student. As a senior he was the recipient of the Dudley Bell Award, given to Lyndon's outstanding male athlete.
In 2024-25, Gregory was named to the D3hoops.com All-Region 1 3rd Team, only the second Lyndon men's player ever to be so honored. He was a NAC 1st Team All-Conference selection in both 2024-25 and 2025-26, the only two-time 1st Team selection in Lyndon history. Last season, Gonyea averaged 20.5 points per game, third best in the conference. As a senior in 2024-25, he was the leading scorer in the conference, averaging 20.8 points per game. In each of the past two years he has also been among the conference leaders in field goal percentage and three-point percentage. Gonyea was a multi-time NAC Player of the Week over his career and was named to the d3Hoops.com Team of the Week in December of 2024, the first Lyndon player to be so named in the history of the award and one of only two NAC players to be named that season. He wa also s the NAC Rookie of the Year in his freshman season, 2022-23. Gonyea scored 1,551 points in 87 career games, the most by a Lyndon player in the modern NCAA Division III era.
Gonyea is the fourth Lyndon student-athlete, and the second Hornet men's basketball player to be named Man of the Year. Men's basketball player Zach Falkenburg (Chittenango, NY) received the honor in 2021-22, Cross country runners Craig Johnson (North Kingstown, RI) and Josh Gant (Nashua, NH) were back to back honorees in 2011-12 and 2012-13 respectively.
