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) wasdiagnosed 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 byD1Baseball.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.