BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Gulf South Conference announced that West Florida’s Ryan Payne was named as the 2026 GSC Champion Scholar-Athlete for men’s basketball.

CHAMPION SCHOLAR-ATHLETE HISTORY

Payne, a senior from Pocatello, Idaho, earned the GSC Champion Scholar-Athlete Award with a 3.94 grade point average while majoring in health sciences. He is West Florida’s ninth recipient of the award all-time and the first men’s basketball recipient.

This is the seventh year that the Gulf South Conference has presented the Champion Scholar-Athlete Award. The award is given out at the final site of each GSC Championship event and awarded to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among teams participating. Each student-athlete GPA is based on the most recently completed term, and the individual must have a minimum of 48 credit hours to be eligible for the award. Student-athletes are only eligible to win the award once per academic year.