Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation launches new collegiate slugger award
The Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation is making a change.
The foundation celebrated its 25th and final Lifetime Achievement Award gala last week at the Fort Worth Club. U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, a former TCU baseball standout, was the honoree.
The foundation’s board of directors also announced the launch of the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award for the 2017 baseball season.
The award is open to nominations from all 21 Division 1 baseball programs in Texas. It will honor annually the most outstanding offensive player based on personal integrity/community service, athletic performance and academic achievement.
The 21 schools participating are Abilene Christian, Baylor, Dallas Baptist, Houston, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Prairie View A&M, Rice, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, TCU, UT Rio Grande Valley, Texas Southern, Texas State, Texas Tech, UT Arlington, UT Austin and UT San Antonio.
A “watch list” will be released in late January or early February and a gala to announce the 2017 winner is being developed.
“I would anticipate starting with 25-30 names on the watch list,” said Tracy Taylor, a consultant with the foundation. “Some schools might have two nominees.”
The winner will have a $2,500 scholarship awarded to his school’s general scholarship fund.
The foundation is changing its way of continuing to link baseball and providing opportunities for scholarships and awards.
“It was developed by the board. The idea is seen as the next chapter of where the foundation is going,” Taylor said. “They saw an opportunity to connect baseball and college education and be set up for the next 25 years.”
The foundation has awarded more than 730 scholarships worth more than $1.8 million in a unique format. It chooses to award the promise of a college scholarship to deserving eighth graders in an effort to help them reach their goal of attending college.
The Slugger Award is expected to be presented in a similar gala setting as the lifetime achievement award.
For more information, contact Tracy Taylor at tracy@bobbybragan.org.
Bobby Bragan Lifetime Achievement Award
Congressman Roger Williams closes a 25-year run of some of the greatest names in sports who have received the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. The past honorees:
2015: LaDainian Tomlinson
2014: Verne Lundquist
2013 Randy Galloway
2012: Bob Schieffer
2011: Bob R. Simpson
2010: T. Boone Pickens
2009: Jim “The Rookie” Morris
2008: Tom Grieve
2007: Earl Weaver
2006: Lou Brock, Brooks Robinson
2005: Willie Mays
2004: Bud Selig
2003: Bobby Bragan
2002: Bobby Richardson
2001: Bobby Valentine
2000: Charley Pride, Maury Wills, Jackie Robinson (posthumously)
1999: Tom Landry, Roger Staubach
1998: Hank Aaron
1997: Eddie Robinson, Gene Stallings
1996: Sparky Anderson, Tommy Lasorda, Gene Mauch
1995: Dan Jenkins
1994: Dr. Bobby Brown
1993: Byron Nelson
1992: Joe DiMaggio
This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation launches new collegiate slugger award."