A three-year captain for the Lions, Alton Byrd still holds the program’s career record with 526 assists, buoyed by the top-two single-season assist totals (210, 193) in Columbia history. He was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 1976-77 and earned First Team All-Ivy accolades in each of his three varsity seasons, behind an Ivy League career-best 7.41 assist average.
 
He earned the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award in 1978-79, as the nation’s most outstanding senior who is six-feet-or-shorter. After graduating from Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in urban studies and economics in 1979, Byrd was selected in the 10th round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft by the Boston Celtics. He embarked on a decades-long professional basketball career in Great Britain, becoming known as Great Britain’s greatest ambassador of the game. He was named the Player of the Year in the British professional league after the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons and, after becoming a dual national in 1984, appeared in 18 games for England’s national team.
 
Off the court, Byrd has been the general manager of the London Monarchs of NFL Europe; vice president of strategic alliances and broadcasting for Sacramento Kings of the NBA and chief revenue officer of the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA. He was the chief executive officer of Clear Focus Communications—a management consulting company he founded—from 2002-13 and currently serves as the vice president of business operations for the Long Island Nets of the NBA G League. He was inducted into the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.