A doctor of chiropractic medicine. Board member. Former professional team owner. Advocate for women's athletics. Former ULowell softball pitcher extraordinaire.

The result of years of accomplishments and plaudits from all of the above, Dr. Sheri Russell is the consummate recipient of the 2012 Champion of Sports Award. She will be honored at UMass Lowell's Second Annual Dream of Perfect Games: A Celebration of Sport Saturday, Sept. 29 (6 p.m.) at the Inn and Conference Center.

Admission is $50 which includes food stations prior to the event. Tickets can be purchased online here.

The event also includes the presentation of the Family Lew Community Impact Award to Steve Kelley and Billy Robertson of the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club; the James T. Smith Award (The Smitty) for Lietime Achievement, awarded posthumously to former golf coach Gary Mucica; and an addition Champion of Sport award to Ed Scollan, longtime Westford Academy educator/coach and director of UMass Lowell's National Youth Sports Program.

The evening also includes UMass Lowell's Hall of Fame induction of Michael Paige ('03), Jason Paige ('05), Joanna DaLuze ('06) and Nicole Plante Hunt ('08).

“It's a big honor for me being recognized by my alma mater,” Russell said. “I feel so dedicated to the school as far as academic pride and the athletic prowess we had. Mostly because of the fact that people appreciate my dedication to women in sports. I'm just super-humbled by it.”

After graduating from ULowell in 1987 with her undergraduate degree in, of all things, criminal justice, Russell found her calling through interning in the athletic training facilities of ULowell and Northeastern University, where she completed the coursework for her National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) certification.

From 1993-96, Russell graduated from New York Chiropractic College with her doctorate in chiropractic medicine and was named the Ernest Napolitano Distinguished Student Award. She achieved her post doctorate from the Chiropractic Sports Medicine program at the University of Bridgeport in 2005.

Russell opened the Russell Center for Chiropractic and Sports Medicine in Beverly in 1998, and treats 100 patients any given week.

Ever the student of her work, she interned three weeks at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2007, and recently earned her MBA from Endicott College.

“The field of sports medicine is always a work in progress, always changing,” she said. “As far as being a well-recognized practice on the North Shore, I'm very happy with that. I would love to bring what we do to more people. We are constantly trying to come up with new ideas to enhance sports performances. I'm pretty happy with where we're at.”

While servicing the athletes of the North Shore – from those in high school to weekend warriors – Russell also gives plenty back: She serves as a board member of YMCA in Beverly as well as the North Shore Educational Consortium, which stages a number of community outreach events throughout the year.

In 2004, Russell purchased the Mass Mutiny women's football team and relocated it from Lowell to Boston, where they enjoyed a solid following. She sold the team in 2008 to Ernie Boch, Jr.

“The Mutiny afforded me an opportunity to enable women to play a sport they loved,” she explained. I had recently become an aunt, and the very thought of people telling my niece that she couldn't play football because she was female was what drove me to purchase the team.”

Russell enjoyed a stellar softball career at UMass Lowell (then the University of Lowell), enjoying the best single season for a pitcher in the program's history. After making one appearance as a freshman and a 12-11 showing her sophomore year, Russell went 27-6 as a junior with a staggering ERA of 0.62 over 215 innings pitched.

The 1986 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Player of the Year, she drove the team to its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which followed its first NECC championship in only its third year in the Conference.

Arm trouble hampered Russell's senior season in 1987, but she went 12-5 and steered ULowell to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England/Upstate New York Tournament championship, for which she was named the tournament most valuable player.

The Chiefs went 41-14 over Russell's junior and senior seasons. She graduated with 12 school records, including four single season marks which still stand: starts (31), innings pitched (215.2), wins (27) and ERA (0.62).

Russell is a native of Shrewsbury, Mass. She resides in Gloucester, Mass.