Winners Named for
2015 Tom Walter/Pete Frates Award
A
college baseball player who encouraged forgiveness rather than
hate after his mother was among nine killed in a shooting in
Charleston, S.C., headlines the 2015 winners of
CollegeBaseballInsider.com’s fifth-annual Tom Walter/Pete
Frates College Baseball Inspiration Award.
The award, renamed in 2014 to include former
Boston College star Pete Frates, recognizes examples of
inspiration in college baseball.
Charleston Southern’s Chris Singleton (pictured
above) inspired his community and beyond with his “Love is
stronger than hate” message the day after his mother, Sharonda
Coleman-Singleton, lost her life. Joining Singleton as
recipients are: Rutgers director of baseball operations Glen
Gardner; Western Illinois senior catcher Mark Garton; Texas
State coach Ty Harrington; superfan Zach Mezger; Minnesota
pitching coach Todd Oakes; Maryland freshman pitcher Billy
Phillips; and Clemson senior pitcher Clate Schmidt.
CollegeBaseballInsider.com
also recognizes Zach Farmer (left), his family and the Ohio
State University community. Farmer, a 2014 recipient of the
award for inspiring his team and community to become members
of the Be the Match registry as he battled acute myeloid
leukemia, passed away in August. Before he passed away, Farmer
married his high school sweetheart and was mentioned by Randy
Johnson in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech. Buckeyes coach
Greg Beals told the Columbus Dispatch: “I
think of the word fighter – courage all the way to the
end. I’ll remember that smile, that southern drawl. We’re
certainly going to have a guardian angel.”
The award, started by
CollegeBaseballInsider.com (CBI) in 2011, is named for Tom
Walter, the head coach at Wake Forest who donated a kidney to
freshman outfielder Kevin Jordan before the 2011 season, and
Frates, whose courageous battle with ALS
captured the nation’s attention with the Ice Bucket Challenge
– the effort has raised more than $220 million for
ALS research.
“Each of these individuals not only has
inspired their teammates, coaches and classmates, but also
their communities,” said Sean Ryan, co-founder of
CollegeBaseballInsider.com, which has covered Division I
college baseball since 2002. “We’re honored to share their
stories, their journeys and their impact and thank them for
inspiring on and off the baseball diamond.”
2015 Tom Walter/Pete
Frates College Baseball Inspiration Award Winners
·
Less
than 24 hours after his mother, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton,
was one of nine killed in a shooting at Emanuel AME Church in
Charleston, S.C., Charleston Southern rising sophomore Chris
Singleton (right) captured the nation by telling supporters at
a prayer vigil
“Love is stronger than hate, so if we love the way my mom did,
the hate won’t be anything compared to what love is.” He
was featured in an incredible
ESPN E:60 piece and
the Today Show, where he was surprised by John Cena and
New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez, Brett Gardner (a former
College of Charleston star) and Dellin Betances, who honored
him with the opportunity to take batting practice and throw
out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium. The strength he’s
shown, and his message of forgiveness is nothing short of
remarkable.
· Glen
Gardner has been the director of baseball operations at
Rutgers for the past eight years. Before that, he was a
standout for the Scarlet Knights, one of the program’s best
hitters, as well as a highly respected assistant coach for
Rutgers for 18 years. Multiple sclerosis
has proven no match for Gardner, who oversees on-campus
recruiting visits, team travel and day-to-day operations of
the program.
· 
Western
Illinois’ Mark Garton (right) nearly lost his baseball career
when he came back from Christmas break in 2014. The rising
senior catcher was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection
that led to a one-month hospital stay and doubts of whether he
would return. “I never thought I would get back to where I was
before I got sick, I thought I’d be half of what I was,”
Garton said for a
feature for Inside the Summit League (15:40 mark). He
returned in 2015 to start 46 games at catcher, third base,
first base and DH, hitting .258 with two homers and 20 RBI for
the Leathernecks.
· 
Texas
State head coach Ty Harrington (right) was
diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer before the 2014 fall
season, when chemo and radiation treatments replaced teaching
and preparing for the ensuing spring. Harrington returned to
the dugout late in the season as the Bobcats rallied to
qualify for the Sun Belt Tournament, where they made a run at
a title by winning their first two games. Harrington’s
comeback was
highlighted by Sports Illustrated in November.
· 
It’s
not easy to make an impact on three college baseball teams
over the course of a couple seasons, but Zach Mezger (right)
did just that. Mezger, affectionately known as “Coach Z”
around the Indiana baseball program, also inspired Arizona
State, coached by former IU skipper Tracy Smith, and
Cincinnati, coached by former IU assistant Ty Neal, in 2014
and 2015. Mezger, who triumphs over a bevy of health
conditions, throws out first pitches, mingles with pro
athletes and inspires far and wide, was featured by
D1Baseball.com’s Aaron Fitt in one of the best college
baseball stories of the year.
· 
Minnesota
pitching coach Todd Oakes (right) was a 2013 honoree of this
award for battling through his first bout with cancer. Oakes
is staring down his third fight with cancer and is showing no
signs of slowing down. “I think
the biggest thing it’s given me is a chance and opportunity to
live out what a coach is all about,” Oakes
told
Fox 9 in Minneapolis. “When we talk about strength,
perseverance, hope, teamwork, minds over matter, it’s given me
a real life chance to live it out, to walk the talk.” Oakes
originally was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2012.
· 
Maryland’s
Billy Phillips (right) didn’t throw a pitch as the Terrapins
reached the Super Regionals for the second straight year. But,
he helped nonetheless. Phillips, a recruit set to step foot on
campus in the fall of 2015 at the time, was diagnosed with
acute lymphocytic leukemia during his senior year of high
school. The
Terps rallied around their future teammate, drawing
attention through the #BP15 hashtag, en route to another
special year.
· 
Clemson
pitcher Clate Schmidt (right) made six starts (the Tigers were 5-1 in
those starts) and 12 other appearances in 2015. All the while,
he was
undergoing several months of testing after he felt a lump
in his neck in January. In June, he announced a diagnosis of
nodular sclerosis, a form of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The Boston
Red Sox drafted him on the day he started chemotherapy, and he
spent time with cancer-survivor Jon Lester. Now cancer-free,
Schmidt is hoping for big things as he returned to the Tigers
in his senior season.
Past recipients of the award include:
· 2011
– Walter was honored along with Georgia outfielder Johnathan
Taylor and Arizona State outfielder Cory Hahn, both of whom
were paralyzed during games in the 2011 season, and Bayler
Teal, a 7-year-old boy whose battle with cancer inspired 2010
and 2011 national champion South Carolina.
· 2012
– Marty Gantt of College of Charleston, who was born with an
underdeveloped right hand and overcame the disability to
become the 2012 Southern Conference Player of the Year; Mike
Kent of Clemson, who was weakened by preparations for a
bone-marrow transplant for his brother but pitched against
doctor's orders and helped the Tigers to a key win over
Maryland; Alex Silver of Texas, who returned to the Longhorns
after battling Stage I Hodgkin's lymphoma; Carter Smith of UT
Martin, who was born without a right hand but made an impact
as a pitcher for the Skyhawks; and Tanner Vavra of Valparaiso,
who became a star despite two severe injuries to his right eye
that left him totally blind in that eye.
· 2013
– Frates was honored along with Davidson head coach Dick
Cooke, who overcame numerous injuries, including bleeding on
his brain, broken ribs and a collapsed lung to coach the
Wildcats after a severe car accident; Minnesota pitching coach
Todd Oakes and pitcher Jordan Jess, with Oakes receiving a
bone marrow transplant and Jess became a bone marrow donor to
a needy recipient; Illinois State pitching coach Bill Mohl,
who lost his wife to a rare form of cervical cancer during the
season and came back to help guide the Redbirds to a
conference title, raising $25,000 on his own for cancer
research; Cody Stevens of Northwestern, who returned to action
after being hit by a pitch in the head and needing emergency
surgery for a blood clot that nearly took his life; and the
UTPA baseball team, which befriended a pair of young children
needing bone marrow transplants and held numerous bone marrow
and blood drives in their community.
· 2014
– Bethune-Cookman coach Jason Beverlin rebounded from an
extremely rare skin condition that nearly took his life;
Georgia Southern reliever Jason Richman’s mother passed away
during the conference tourney, but the lefty stayed with his
team and allowed one run in 13.1 innings as the Eagles
captured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament; Ohio State
pitcher Zach Farmer’s diagnosis with acute myeloid leukemia
inspired his team and university to become part of the Be the
Match registry; Louisville fan Michael Todd Esser has not let
cerebral palsy slow him down in supporting the Cardinals;
Portland’s JR Bunda’s spent two days in a coma after his heart
stopped during a workout and then overcame a blood clot in his
arm to help the Pilots his senior year; and Vanderbilt student
managers Josh Ruchotzke (leg, hand amputations) and Mike Portu
(multiple hear surgeries) contributed to a national
championship run.
