BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Former Western Washington University student-athlete Hoyt Gier has been named the 2016 recipient of the Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award. The announcement was made Thursday at the 27th Annual Key Bank Viking Night Dinner and Auction held at the Viking Union on the WWU campus.

Funds raised from the annual event are used for scholarships and support of the WWU Athletics program.

Since trailblazing Western Washington university administrator and coach Lynda Goodrich retired in 2013, her legacy has been recognized every year since at Viking Night with the presentation of the Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award. Former WWU student-athlete Jo Metzger-Levin was the inaugural winner in 2014 and longtime Sports Information Director and current WWU Athletics Historian Paul Madison was presented the award in 2015. The honor goes to a person who has demonstrated Lynda's passion, strength, courage and leadership.

Gier (pronounced guy-er) earned WWU Athletic Hall of Fame honors as a student-athlete for the Vikings from 1975-78, and has been an extraordinary ambassador for WWU and Viking Athletics over the 38 years since.

As a wide receiver in football, he caught at least one pass in all 37 games played, setting school records for receptions in a game (11) and career (148), and yards receiving in a game (187) and career (2,321).

In 1976, Gier helped the Vikings to the NAIA District 1 Championship with a 48-28 win over Pacific Lutheran University, and, in 1977, he was a key member of the team that played for a district title in The Kingdome. During his career he earned honorable mention NAIA All-American (1978), NAIA District 1 All-Star (1977, 1978) and All-Evergreen Conference (1977, 1978) honors.

Graduating from WWU with a degree in business administration, Gier earned his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, with an emphasis on investment management.

A Whatcom County native, Hoyt graduated from Ferndale High School, is a former president of the WWU Foundation Board of Directors and chaired the planning committee for the university's successful $60 million fundraising campaign.

Hoyt and his family are funding endowments to provide scholarships in support of the university's cross country and women's basketball student-athletes.

Gier is currently a Managing Director and head of the Western Region-North for Citi Private Bank in San Francisco. He was most recently Regional Market Manager for the Pacific Northwest where he managed the Seattle office.