Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Program ups award amount to $64,000;
Teams of the Year and Comeback Athletes also to be recognized
The Richmond Region’s finest high school will be on display and rewarded for their hard work on Monday night, June 7 when the 19th Annual Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner takes place at The Jefferson Hotel. This year the program is awarding $64,000 in college scholarships to 20 outstanding high school student-athletes, as well as awards to the male and female Comeback Athletes of the Year and Team of the Year awards.
Twenty youngsters, 10 boys and 10 girls, all seniors, have been selected as scholarship finalists from the Richmond region. The overall winning boy’s and girl’s scholarships will be $7,500 each, with the runner-ups receiving $4,500 each, and the rest of the finalists $2,500 each.
Virginia Commonwealth University Women’s Soccer Co-head Coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak will be the featured speaker at the event, which gets underway at 6 p.m. Coach Roberts Sahaydak will speak at approximately 7:45 p.m. and awards will be handed out at approximately 8 p.m.
This is the nineteenth year of the program, which has now awarded a total of $544,000 to 355 outstanding student-athletes from the Richmond area.
A limited number of tickets for the Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner are available for $100 each. The deadline to order tickets is Wednesday, May 26 or when the event sells out, whichever comes first. For ticket information call Faith Hecht at the Sports Backers 804-285-9495 x250 or email at faith@sportsbackers.org.
The Sports Backers are also presenting boys and girls Team of the Year awards, sponsored by Williams Mullen.
CJW Sports Medicine will present its male and female Comeback Athletes of the Year at the banquet. Each winner receives a $1,000 scholarship, and the schools receive $500. The awards recognize high school athletes who have overcome major injuries or illnesses during their careers and returned to playing their sports.
