Street Kids Awards
Banquet a Huge Hit
Joe Horvath wins three awards
including overall MVP
Banquet a Huge Hit
Joe Horvath wins three awards
including overall MVP
South Bend, IN 12-5-10
The Street Kids annual awards banquet was a huge hit at
the Marriott Hotel in South Bend on Saturday, with guest
speaker Rusty Bumgardner of Combat Sports and Team
USA Softball highlighting the event as the guest speaker.
SKS outfielder Joe Horvath took home three awards,
including the overall Most Valuable Player award. He also
won the tournament player of the year award and the
offensive player of the year, given to the player who leads
the team in hitting.
It was the second straight MVP award for Horvath, who took home the award in 2009 despite battling injuries. This year, he was
healthy and even at age 40, defied logic with some of his ability on the field. Horvath led the team in six offensive categories,
including winning the triple crown, the player who leads the team in average, home runs and runs batted in. His 123 home runs this
year tied the team record.
"This means a lot to me tonight because my mom and dad are here," said the three time batting champion when getting his MVP
award, which was presented to him by Rusty Bumgardner. "In almost 20 years of softball, they have only seen me play one game,
and for them to be here tonight to see this means a lot."
Horvath beat out Jason Jeffery, who did not go home empty handed himself, for the MVP award. Horvath finished with 565 points,
with Jeffery getting 420, and Chris Firebaugh getting 210 total points. Nick Bishop, Justin Newcomer and Scott Martin rounded out
the top six. Horvath had 21 first place votes, 12 second place votes and five third place votes. Jeffery took home 13 first place
votes, 10 second place votes and 12 third place votes. Bishop received four first place votes and Firebaugh received three first
place votes.
Along with winning the offensive player of the year and overall MVP, Horvath was also the landslide winner of the tournament player
of the year, which was presented by Jim Kimmel of the National Softball Association. Horvath took home 21 of the 44 first place
votes and finished with 560 total points, with Jason Jeffery again finishing second with 335 points (seven first place votes) and Chris
Firebaugh, who led the tournament team in batting average, finished third with 320 points (nine first place votes). Nick Bishop (190
points, five first place votes), Scott Martin and Justin Newcomer rounded out the finalists. Martin took home the other two first
place votes.
It was also a great night for Jason Jeffery, who won the Comeback
Player of the Year award after increasing almost every offensive
statistic from the year before, including improving his batting average
64 points from last year. Later on in the evening, Jeffery was presented
the League Player of the Year award by Mishawaka League
commissioner Chad Meyers. Jeffery was second to Horvath in almost
every category this season, and host Lanny Fisher even stated at one
point in the night if "Horvath had two broken legs all we would be
talking about is Jay Jeffery." But when all the votes were in, Jeffery
edged Horvath - who had a phenomenal league season once again - in
total points, 615 to 610, or the difference of one third place vote (five
points). Jeffery had 23 first place votes, and Horvath had 21.
Firebaugh finished third with 205 points (two first place votes) and
Justin Newcomer finished fourth with 115 points. Scott Martin had
100 total points, but took home the final two first place votes.
"We had a great season this year, sure we had our ups and downs, but
in the end it was awesome," said the infielder.
To see the complete description of all the nominees, click here.
Rusty Bumgardner was the main attraction of the night, coming up from North Carolina to be the guest speaker. But he did more
than that, spending Friday night at dinner with teammates (that he insisted upon) and most of the day on Saturday doing Street Kids
Care activities.
"I have been following Street Kids for over a year now and along with
them being a great team on the field, its their work off the field that
really got my attention," said the 24-time major world champion. "I
spent an hour straight on Thursday night before I came here to South
Bend just watching videos and I will tell you, I was in tears over some
of that stuff. You guys - all of you here - are amazing people and this
will be one of the highlights of my life, coming here, not just softball, but
my entire life. I mean that."
Rusty spoke about several things, including the banquet weekend, and
how much he enjoyed spending time with some children at the Childrens
Hospital in South Bend.
"We had a great time at the hospital, especially meeting little Hector,"
Bumgardner said. "He was pretty excited and I was too! We gave
away some Combat shirts and some posters... it was just a great time there for sure." See the video here...
Following the visit to the hospital, Rusty went to the Penn Township Food Pantry, where we gave away some toys to Mike Hayes,
the director, to be given away to some needy families.
"That was really neat going to their place in Mishawaka. Mike Hayes and the folks at Penn Township do a great thing and I was just
happy that TJ and I could go over there and help out," he said.
The entire evening was recorded by Josh Taylor and photographs were taken by SJ2 Photography, a new sponsor of Street Kids
Softball, so for those that missed the event, there will be avenues for you to see how awesome the event was. Videos should be
released later this week.
Lanny Fisher hosted the event this year and did a fantastic job. Using his normal wit and sense of humor, Lanny kept the evening
refreshing and light, and at times made sure he reminded people just how special Street Kids Care is and encouraged everyone to
get involved.
"You don't even have to be a member of this team to come to some of the events," Fisher said near the end of the night. "Come see
first hand what its like and I promise you, you will go away with a new feeling you never had before."
Myself, TJ Jorgensen, spoke briefly prior to Rusty being introduced and
made sure I thanked the sponsors, including two of which were in
attendance on Saturday, Home Comfort Experts and Pinnacle Athletic
Club. I also made sure to thank my beautiful and supportive wife,
Courtney. People never realize that if your wife or girlfriend does not
want you to play, you will not play! I am fortunate that my wife
understands my passion and of course has a huge hand in what we
do with Street Kids Care. A lot of times you may not see it because
she is not at every event, but many times she is the one that coordinated
it, sent emails, phone calls, etc and she deserves a lot of credit.
I also made sure to thank my teammates, who without them and their
own passion, we would have no Street Kids Care. For all the people
that call and email me or stop me at the store and say what an amazing
thing I put together, I remind them that its not like I just set this up and
force these guys to come. They come because they really do care and
its a life changer for us also. That was never more evident than last year
when Mark Hershberger gave an emotional speech after winning the
Humanitarian Award. Meeting Dillon, our young friend who beat
cancer, changed Mark's life. I never put the passion into these guys, all I did was give them the avenue to utilize it. You players
deserve just as much credit for the accolades I receive.
After Rusty's speech, it was time for awards to be handed out. Brent McKown began with accepting the Fort Wayne Street Kids
award for "True Leaders". After that, he presented the award for best defensive player to Drew Dafforn, who admitted he was a
Street Kids hater before...
"I will be the first to admit it. I didn't like any of you guys," said the middle infielder from Fort Wayne. "I played against SKS when I
was with Cousins Roofing and I couldnt stand the Street Kids team. But when I joined the Fort Wayne SKS team, and got to know
more about what SKS is all about, I made a 180 and now I'm a big fan and love to see the things this organization does."
FW SKS Most Valuable Player went to Darrin Eicher, who was not in attendance.
Following the Fort Wayne awards, Jason Jeffery presented two awards to the B3 Street Kids team that was in attendance. Mike
Miller was named the B3/SKS Gold Glove winner and Brian Forray was named overall MVP. Both gave nice speeches as they
accepted their awards, and you will see that in the video highlight being released later this week.
The team also made a special award for umpire Terry Sherrill for his huge season in NSA this year. Sherrill umped more than 1,000
games this year and did seven world championships in 2010. New SKS pitcher Steve Schroeder presented the award on behalf of
the team to Sherrill, who was in attendance with his mother, daughter and girlfriend.
"I love what I do," said the 2007 NSA national umpire of the year winner. "I think we have the best umpires in the game, especially
here in Northern Indiana. When we go to other tournaments and see some umpires, I know that they do not measure up to what we
do, and the reason for that is you guys, the players deserve better. We strive to be the best. But I love this team.. TJ, you and this
team... The things you guys do off the field is what makes you head and shoulders above everyone else, and you are not only great
players, you are great men. This award means a lot because this night is about you guys, and you made the efforts to honor me,
which was not necessary but so appreciated. And for that, Street Kids will always be ri-ri- right there."
After Terry accepted his award for umpiring excellence, Lanny
introduced Todd Mann of Home Comfort Experts, the chief sponsor
of Street Kids Care, who presented the award for Humanitarian of the
Year to the player who best represented himself off the field with
Street Kids Care. That player was Shane Varga. The presentation
speech that Todd gave was moving, including how he revealed that
night that his family had been diagnosed with a rare blood disease
and how they went through treatment at an oncology ward at a local
hospital, the same place that children with cancer get their treatments.
"We have been getting treatment for this rare blood disease for a little
over four years now," the quiet yet professional presenter said. "But
the one thing that made it very difficult was seeing the children in their
battling this terrible disease. TJ was unaware of my condition so when
he sat down with me a few years back and talked about partnering up
with Street Kids Care, it really was a no brainer. Sometimes you have
to recognize things that happen for a reason."
Todd went on to describe how the winner of this award went through his own battles and was very deserving of the award.
"The individual that was selected this year has went through his own battles and struggles and we have been able to witness a part of
that through the website and him keeping us informed," he continued. "He's overcome some of those challenges because of faith,
teammates, support, and family to be where he is at today."
Shane Varga was presented the award and was welcomed to the stage with a standing ovation by those in attendance. When he
accepted the award from Todd, he saw the picture on the plaque and was immediately moved emotionally.
"I am really appreciative to be the one up here, but this award could go to anyone," said Varga, fighting through emotion. "I made it
my goal to get back to playing with my team, with my friends but I made sure that even through my struggles I would do my best to
give back to the community. Not only does it feel good, but I feel like its my moral obligation to do it."
Varga went on to talk about the different things that Street Kids Care took part in this year and when he got to the story of Carter, a
young boy who was battling cancer from New Carlisle, he began to get even more emotional.
"This little guy had been through so much," Varga added. "He is only five years old and we were able to go as a team and get him a
brand new Wii with about 30 games and a bunch of us delivered it to him and his family had a big picnic for us and everything. He is
the neatest little kid and it breaks your heart to see someone so young have to go through that (cancer). When I went through it, I
was a mature adult, I was fully aware of the challenges ahead of me. But when you are just five years old, you have no clue whats
happening to you. They don't understand how you have to get sick to get better (chemotherapy), and it was just heartbreaking.
"Every year we set out to win championships. Thats what teams do, they make goals on the field and do what they can to achieve
them. But this award is so meaningful to me because after my playing days are done, no one will remember how many
championships I won. But I know that there are a lot of people that we helped that will remember that about our team and those
involved."
After Shane's moving speech, which can be seen in its entirety later on video later, Lanny introduced Joe Horvath who accepted his
first of three awards on the night, the offensive player of the year award. This award goes to the batter who leads the team in hitting.
Joe won the triple crown for the second straight year, and the batting title for the third straight year.
"Thanks to my teammates for putting me in the situation to drive them in or swing away, which in league was practically every time,"
joked Horvath.
Shane Varga presented the coach of the year award to Teddy Panagakos, who just finished his second year coaching with Street
Kids. The veteran player began playing softball in 1975 with Legus Shell out of Niles, which would become Stadium Dental. He
remained with that team for 19 years.
"I just want to thank my wife, Ellen, for allowing me to continue to chase my dream of winning another state title," said the former
Michigan State Class BB MVP. "Also to my teammates, its been a lot of fun these past two years. I know I dont play, and some
guys are like who is this guy? But I have a blast being with you guys. I was pretty sick this year and missed a lot of action, but I told
my wife that I had one goal, and that was to make it back before the end of the season and get on the field. TJ gave me that
opportunity at the end of the season, giving me a chance to pinch hit. I grounded out, but it meant the world to me."
The next award was the comeback player of the year, presented by last years host, Terry Patesel. The winner was Jason Jeffery.
Jeffery improved almost every offensive category and stepped up his defense tremendously as well. Not known for many words in
front of a crowd, he kept it short and sweet.
"I havent been myself these past couple of years," the soft spoken leader said. "With some knucklehead things off the field, to my
mom being sick to Berto passing, its been rough. But I feel like I'm back and I dont plan on going anywhere."
The next award was the Pinnacle Gold Glove Award, presented by Dave Wolfram and Stephanie Hazen of Pinnacle Athletic Club,
one of the sponsors of Street Kids Softball. As mentioned earlier, Chris Firebaugh won the award and similar to Jeffery, isnt much of
a speaker.
"I just want to thank everyone for voting for me," said the newest member of Pipac/Easton in USSSA Conference in 2011. "I want
to thank Pinnacle and TJ for everything, and my old lady for letting me play so much. There were a lot of days I left before the sun
came up and didn't get home until the sun went down just for softball. So this means a lot. Thanks."
Following the gold glove award, Chad Meyers of Mishawaka Softball presented the winner of the league player of the year to Jason
Jeffery, who narrowly beat Horvath, but deserved it so much. Meyers spoke briefly prior to giving the award.
"The SKS team has been a part of this league for about seven years, and each year they seem to come away with at least one title, in
either summer or fall, and in most cases both," said Meyers. "The level of competition has been raised because of Street Kids and
they have been known as the Yankees of local softball, meaning everyone wants to beat them. And despite the 69-2 overall record,
it was one of the teams I play with - Tasers Softball - who snapped their 62-game winning streak!
"But seriously its been a pleasure having SKS in my leagues, a team who dedicates themselves on and especially off the field, for all
these years."
Upon winning the league player of the year, Jeffery began by thanking the people who stand by him the most.
"First of all, I want to thank my teammates," he said. "Without you this is not possible. We went through our ups and downs this year
with some people coming and some going, but we stuck together when it matters most. Thanks guys."
Jim Kimmel of the NSA was on hand to present the tournament player of the year award, but prior to doing that he took the time to
make a very special announcement.
"On the national level, I was elected into the NSA Hall of Fame in
2005," said the 2005 inductee. "And it was one of the most rewarding
experiences of my life. And I want to be able to return that so what
I am doing is this. I am also on the Hall of Fame committee for the
NSA national level, and I want to tell you that I am nominating
Street Kids Care for the Hall of Fame."
After some applause, Kimmel continued.
"The second thing I am doing is making announcement right now, and
this is the first time its been released, that effective tomorrow at our
NSA state meeting, we will have the Northern Indiana Softball Hall
of Fame. And I just want to say to TJ and to all of you, that I will be
nominating Street Kids Care for election into that as well."
After his speech, Kimmel presented the tournament player of the
year award to Joe Horvath.
"It was nice to have an injury free year," said Horvath. "We had a good year, too. It started out kind of rough, we had to bring
Lanny out of retirement, but TJ held it together. Its like Lanny said earlier, we took 10 guys to Minnesota, and Dan Garey drove all
night to be with us the next morning. We could have easily packed it in after our loss Sunday morning, but we kept fighting and came
back to the championship game. We had a good year though and got into Sunday a lot. Not only did we have a good year, but Jay
Jeffery had a great year, too. I like to tease him that if we were the Chicago Bulls, he would be my Scottie Pippen. He responded by
saying he'd rather be Robin to me being Batman, and I said whichever you want to go, man."
After Lanny talked a little more about how far Joe Horvath has come, he introduced Rusty Bumgardner once again who would
introduce the overall Most Valuable Player award. Prior to doing so, Rusty explained to everyone exactly how the voting system
works, and also what an MVP is. You can see all of this in the video next week. When he concluded talking, he introduced to the
stage for the third time, Joe Horvath.
"My parents have only seen me play one game in my career," the two
time MVP said. "It was at Belleville many years ago, Jim Kimmel
brought in a major team and we drew Rusty Bumgardner and the
Long Haul team. The only thing we won that day was the coin toss.
And it pissed them off because we took visitors, so they could only
bat twice, and we lost 29-2. That was the only time my parents had
seen me do anything for softball, so I invited them out tonight and I am
really glad they are here to see that I can win something!
But you know what, I appreciated that ass kicking on that day. Because
it showed us where we are at that time and if you ever want to get
better, you need to take the lumps, take the ass beatings. I really wish
more of these younger players and teams thought like that. B3 was a
good example. They loved playing teams that might be better than them,
because thats how you get tested, thats how you get better. And I
applaud B3 for that, because most teams just want to show up and
find the easiest way to win a trophy.
The first time I really played good competition was against guys like Todd Marvin, DD Hudnal and they pounded us. I watched DD
hit some of the farthest balls I have ever seen and I remember thinking that I wanted to quit right then and there because I didnt want
to play if it was always going to be like this. But you know what, it always gets better and it did for me."
The night concluded with a drawing that was done to give away some Combat t-shirts and Easton pants and pullovers, and also
three softball bats. Two Combat bats and one Easton. Rusty and I had some fun on the stage poking fun at each others bat company
(Combat vs Easton) and in the end, everyone had a great time. The night carried over to the after party at Club Noma, where about
50 people attended, including Rusty, to finish off the 2010 season in style!
Look for some big announcements in the coming weeks including new additions to the SKS family.
So that does it for another year of Street Kids Softball. As we have said during the banquet, and I will say it again now, we could
not have done any of this without the help of all of our sponsors, including a few that must be mentioned: Easton Sports,
Pennsylvania Avenue Sports, Matt Lavender of Suburban Softball, Home Comfort Experts, Buffalo Wild Wings, Langer Sports,
Center Street Pub, State Farm-John Dunkel, Starcraft Bus and Pinnacle Athletic Club, just to name a few. And we cannot leave out
our players, who made the season memorable on and off the field, and finally to our wives and girlfriends. Without you, we would
not be able to do this at all. You women understand our passion and love for this game and instead of trying to stop it, you enable it,
thus making us hopefully all stronger husbands and boyfriends.
To my wife, Courtney, thanks for everything. Behind everything, no matter what I do, who I help, or what I write, there's you. Its
always been you.
To see over 100 pictures from the event, including some from the after party, "like" the Street Kids Fan Page on Facebook
or just click this Facebook logo.. >>>>
The Street Kids annual awards banquet was a huge hit at
the Marriott Hotel in South Bend on Saturday, with guest
speaker Rusty Bumgardner of Combat Sports and Team
USA Softball highlighting the event as the guest speaker.
SKS outfielder Joe Horvath took home three awards,
including the overall Most Valuable Player award. He also
won the tournament player of the year award and the
offensive player of the year, given to the player who leads
the team in hitting.
It was the second straight MVP award for Horvath, who took home the award in 2009 despite battling injuries. This year, he was
healthy and even at age 40, defied logic with some of his ability on the field. Horvath led the team in six offensive categories,
including winning the triple crown, the player who leads the team in average, home runs and runs batted in. His 123 home runs this
year tied the team record.
"This means a lot to me tonight because my mom and dad are here," said the three time batting champion when getting his MVP
award, which was presented to him by Rusty Bumgardner. "In almost 20 years of softball, they have only seen me play one game,
and for them to be here tonight to see this means a lot."
Horvath beat out Jason Jeffery, who did not go home empty handed himself, for the MVP award. Horvath finished with 565 points,
with Jeffery getting 420, and Chris Firebaugh getting 210 total points. Nick Bishop, Justin Newcomer and Scott Martin rounded out
the top six. Horvath had 21 first place votes, 12 second place votes and five third place votes. Jeffery took home 13 first place
votes, 10 second place votes and 12 third place votes. Bishop received four first place votes and Firebaugh received three first
place votes.
Along with winning the offensive player of the year and overall MVP, Horvath was also the landslide winner of the tournament player
of the year, which was presented by Jim Kimmel of the National Softball Association. Horvath took home 21 of the 44 first place
votes and finished with 560 total points, with Jason Jeffery again finishing second with 335 points (seven first place votes) and Chris
Firebaugh, who led the tournament team in batting average, finished third with 320 points (nine first place votes). Nick Bishop (190
points, five first place votes), Scott Martin and Justin Newcomer rounded out the finalists. Martin took home the other two first
place votes.
It was also a great night for Jason Jeffery, who won the Comeback
Player of the Year award after increasing almost every offensive
statistic from the year before, including improving his batting average
64 points from last year. Later on in the evening, Jeffery was presented
the League Player of the Year award by Mishawaka League
commissioner Chad Meyers. Jeffery was second to Horvath in almost
every category this season, and host Lanny Fisher even stated at one
point in the night if "Horvath had two broken legs all we would be
talking about is Jay Jeffery." But when all the votes were in, Jeffery
edged Horvath - who had a phenomenal league season once again - in
total points, 615 to 610, or the difference of one third place vote (five
points). Jeffery had 23 first place votes, and Horvath had 21.
Firebaugh finished third with 205 points (two first place votes) and
Justin Newcomer finished fourth with 115 points. Scott Martin had
100 total points, but took home the final two first place votes.
"We had a great season this year, sure we had our ups and downs, but
in the end it was awesome," said the infielder.
To see the complete description of all the nominees, click here.
Rusty Bumgardner was the main attraction of the night, coming up from North Carolina to be the guest speaker. But he did more
than that, spending Friday night at dinner with teammates (that he insisted upon) and most of the day on Saturday doing Street Kids
Care activities.
"I have been following Street Kids for over a year now and along with
them being a great team on the field, its their work off the field that
really got my attention," said the 24-time major world champion. "I
spent an hour straight on Thursday night before I came here to South
Bend just watching videos and I will tell you, I was in tears over some
of that stuff. You guys - all of you here - are amazing people and this
will be one of the highlights of my life, coming here, not just softball, but
my entire life. I mean that."
Rusty spoke about several things, including the banquet weekend, and
how much he enjoyed spending time with some children at the Childrens
Hospital in South Bend.
"We had a great time at the hospital, especially meeting little Hector,"
Bumgardner said. "He was pretty excited and I was too! We gave
away some Combat shirts and some posters... it was just a great time there for sure." See the video here...
Following the visit to the hospital, Rusty went to the Penn Township Food Pantry, where we gave away some toys to Mike Hayes,
the director, to be given away to some needy families.
"That was really neat going to their place in Mishawaka. Mike Hayes and the folks at Penn Township do a great thing and I was just
happy that TJ and I could go over there and help out," he said.
The entire evening was recorded by Josh Taylor and photographs were taken by SJ2 Photography, a new sponsor of Street Kids
Softball, so for those that missed the event, there will be avenues for you to see how awesome the event was. Videos should be
released later this week.
Lanny Fisher hosted the event this year and did a fantastic job. Using his normal wit and sense of humor, Lanny kept the evening
refreshing and light, and at times made sure he reminded people just how special Street Kids Care is and encouraged everyone to
get involved.
"You don't even have to be a member of this team to come to some of the events," Fisher said near the end of the night. "Come see
first hand what its like and I promise you, you will go away with a new feeling you never had before."
Myself, TJ Jorgensen, spoke briefly prior to Rusty being introduced and
made sure I thanked the sponsors, including two of which were in
attendance on Saturday, Home Comfort Experts and Pinnacle Athletic
Club. I also made sure to thank my beautiful and supportive wife,
Courtney. People never realize that if your wife or girlfriend does not
want you to play, you will not play! I am fortunate that my wife
understands my passion and of course has a huge hand in what we
do with Street Kids Care. A lot of times you may not see it because
she is not at every event, but many times she is the one that coordinated
it, sent emails, phone calls, etc and she deserves a lot of credit.
I also made sure to thank my teammates, who without them and their
own passion, we would have no Street Kids Care. For all the people
that call and email me or stop me at the store and say what an amazing
thing I put together, I remind them that its not like I just set this up and
force these guys to come. They come because they really do care and
its a life changer for us also. That was never more evident than last year
when Mark Hershberger gave an emotional speech after winning the
Humanitarian Award. Meeting Dillon, our young friend who beat
cancer, changed Mark's life. I never put the passion into these guys, all I did was give them the avenue to utilize it. You players
deserve just as much credit for the accolades I receive.
After Rusty's speech, it was time for awards to be handed out. Brent McKown began with accepting the Fort Wayne Street Kids
award for "True Leaders". After that, he presented the award for best defensive player to Drew Dafforn, who admitted he was a
Street Kids hater before...
"I will be the first to admit it. I didn't like any of you guys," said the middle infielder from Fort Wayne. "I played against SKS when I
was with Cousins Roofing and I couldnt stand the Street Kids team. But when I joined the Fort Wayne SKS team, and got to know
more about what SKS is all about, I made a 180 and now I'm a big fan and love to see the things this organization does."
FW SKS Most Valuable Player went to Darrin Eicher, who was not in attendance.
Following the Fort Wayne awards, Jason Jeffery presented two awards to the B3 Street Kids team that was in attendance. Mike
Miller was named the B3/SKS Gold Glove winner and Brian Forray was named overall MVP. Both gave nice speeches as they
accepted their awards, and you will see that in the video highlight being released later this week.
The team also made a special award for umpire Terry Sherrill for his huge season in NSA this year. Sherrill umped more than 1,000
games this year and did seven world championships in 2010. New SKS pitcher Steve Schroeder presented the award on behalf of
the team to Sherrill, who was in attendance with his mother, daughter and girlfriend.
"I love what I do," said the 2007 NSA national umpire of the year winner. "I think we have the best umpires in the game, especially
here in Northern Indiana. When we go to other tournaments and see some umpires, I know that they do not measure up to what we
do, and the reason for that is you guys, the players deserve better. We strive to be the best. But I love this team.. TJ, you and this
team... The things you guys do off the field is what makes you head and shoulders above everyone else, and you are not only great
players, you are great men. This award means a lot because this night is about you guys, and you made the efforts to honor me,
which was not necessary but so appreciated. And for that, Street Kids will always be ri-ri- right there."
After Terry accepted his award for umpiring excellence, Lanny
introduced Todd Mann of Home Comfort Experts, the chief sponsor
of Street Kids Care, who presented the award for Humanitarian of the
Year to the player who best represented himself off the field with
Street Kids Care. That player was Shane Varga. The presentation
speech that Todd gave was moving, including how he revealed that
night that his family had been diagnosed with a rare blood disease
and how they went through treatment at an oncology ward at a local
hospital, the same place that children with cancer get their treatments.
"We have been getting treatment for this rare blood disease for a little
over four years now," the quiet yet professional presenter said. "But
the one thing that made it very difficult was seeing the children in their
battling this terrible disease. TJ was unaware of my condition so when
he sat down with me a few years back and talked about partnering up
with Street Kids Care, it really was a no brainer. Sometimes you have
to recognize things that happen for a reason."
Todd went on to describe how the winner of this award went through his own battles and was very deserving of the award.
"The individual that was selected this year has went through his own battles and struggles and we have been able to witness a part of
that through the website and him keeping us informed," he continued. "He's overcome some of those challenges because of faith,
teammates, support, and family to be where he is at today."
Shane Varga was presented the award and was welcomed to the stage with a standing ovation by those in attendance. When he
accepted the award from Todd, he saw the picture on the plaque and was immediately moved emotionally.
"I am really appreciative to be the one up here, but this award could go to anyone," said Varga, fighting through emotion. "I made it
my goal to get back to playing with my team, with my friends but I made sure that even through my struggles I would do my best to
give back to the community. Not only does it feel good, but I feel like its my moral obligation to do it."
Varga went on to talk about the different things that Street Kids Care took part in this year and when he got to the story of Carter, a
young boy who was battling cancer from New Carlisle, he began to get even more emotional.
"This little guy had been through so much," Varga added. "He is only five years old and we were able to go as a team and get him a
brand new Wii with about 30 games and a bunch of us delivered it to him and his family had a big picnic for us and everything. He is
the neatest little kid and it breaks your heart to see someone so young have to go through that (cancer). When I went through it, I
was a mature adult, I was fully aware of the challenges ahead of me. But when you are just five years old, you have no clue whats
happening to you. They don't understand how you have to get sick to get better (chemotherapy), and it was just heartbreaking.
"Every year we set out to win championships. Thats what teams do, they make goals on the field and do what they can to achieve
them. But this award is so meaningful to me because after my playing days are done, no one will remember how many
championships I won. But I know that there are a lot of people that we helped that will remember that about our team and those
involved."
After Shane's moving speech, which can be seen in its entirety later on video later, Lanny introduced Joe Horvath who accepted his
first of three awards on the night, the offensive player of the year award. This award goes to the batter who leads the team in hitting.
Joe won the triple crown for the second straight year, and the batting title for the third straight year.
"Thanks to my teammates for putting me in the situation to drive them in or swing away, which in league was practically every time,"
joked Horvath.
Shane Varga presented the coach of the year award to Teddy Panagakos, who just finished his second year coaching with Street
Kids. The veteran player began playing softball in 1975 with Legus Shell out of Niles, which would become Stadium Dental. He
remained with that team for 19 years.
"I just want to thank my wife, Ellen, for allowing me to continue to chase my dream of winning another state title," said the former
Michigan State Class BB MVP. "Also to my teammates, its been a lot of fun these past two years. I know I dont play, and some
guys are like who is this guy? But I have a blast being with you guys. I was pretty sick this year and missed a lot of action, but I told
my wife that I had one goal, and that was to make it back before the end of the season and get on the field. TJ gave me that
opportunity at the end of the season, giving me a chance to pinch hit. I grounded out, but it meant the world to me."
The next award was the comeback player of the year, presented by last years host, Terry Patesel. The winner was Jason Jeffery.
Jeffery improved almost every offensive category and stepped up his defense tremendously as well. Not known for many words in
front of a crowd, he kept it short and sweet.
"I havent been myself these past couple of years," the soft spoken leader said. "With some knucklehead things off the field, to my
mom being sick to Berto passing, its been rough. But I feel like I'm back and I dont plan on going anywhere."
The next award was the Pinnacle Gold Glove Award, presented by Dave Wolfram and Stephanie Hazen of Pinnacle Athletic Club,
one of the sponsors of Street Kids Softball. As mentioned earlier, Chris Firebaugh won the award and similar to Jeffery, isnt much of
a speaker.
"I just want to thank everyone for voting for me," said the newest member of Pipac/Easton in USSSA Conference in 2011. "I want
to thank Pinnacle and TJ for everything, and my old lady for letting me play so much. There were a lot of days I left before the sun
came up and didn't get home until the sun went down just for softball. So this means a lot. Thanks."
Following the gold glove award, Chad Meyers of Mishawaka Softball presented the winner of the league player of the year to Jason
Jeffery, who narrowly beat Horvath, but deserved it so much. Meyers spoke briefly prior to giving the award.
"The SKS team has been a part of this league for about seven years, and each year they seem to come away with at least one title, in
either summer or fall, and in most cases both," said Meyers. "The level of competition has been raised because of Street Kids and
they have been known as the Yankees of local softball, meaning everyone wants to beat them. And despite the 69-2 overall record,
it was one of the teams I play with - Tasers Softball - who snapped their 62-game winning streak!
"But seriously its been a pleasure having SKS in my leagues, a team who dedicates themselves on and especially off the field, for all
these years."
Upon winning the league player of the year, Jeffery began by thanking the people who stand by him the most.
"First of all, I want to thank my teammates," he said. "Without you this is not possible. We went through our ups and downs this year
with some people coming and some going, but we stuck together when it matters most. Thanks guys."
Jim Kimmel of the NSA was on hand to present the tournament player of the year award, but prior to doing that he took the time to
make a very special announcement.
"On the national level, I was elected into the NSA Hall of Fame in
2005," said the 2005 inductee. "And it was one of the most rewarding
experiences of my life. And I want to be able to return that so what
I am doing is this. I am also on the Hall of Fame committee for the
NSA national level, and I want to tell you that I am nominating
Street Kids Care for the Hall of Fame."
After some applause, Kimmel continued.
"The second thing I am doing is making announcement right now, and
this is the first time its been released, that effective tomorrow at our
NSA state meeting, we will have the Northern Indiana Softball Hall
of Fame. And I just want to say to TJ and to all of you, that I will be
nominating Street Kids Care for election into that as well."
After his speech, Kimmel presented the tournament player of the
year award to Joe Horvath.
"It was nice to have an injury free year," said Horvath. "We had a good year, too. It started out kind of rough, we had to bring
Lanny out of retirement, but TJ held it together. Its like Lanny said earlier, we took 10 guys to Minnesota, and Dan Garey drove all
night to be with us the next morning. We could have easily packed it in after our loss Sunday morning, but we kept fighting and came
back to the championship game. We had a good year though and got into Sunday a lot. Not only did we have a good year, but Jay
Jeffery had a great year, too. I like to tease him that if we were the Chicago Bulls, he would be my Scottie Pippen. He responded by
saying he'd rather be Robin to me being Batman, and I said whichever you want to go, man."
After Lanny talked a little more about how far Joe Horvath has come, he introduced Rusty Bumgardner once again who would
introduce the overall Most Valuable Player award. Prior to doing so, Rusty explained to everyone exactly how the voting system
works, and also what an MVP is. You can see all of this in the video next week. When he concluded talking, he introduced to the
stage for the third time, Joe Horvath.
"My parents have only seen me play one game in my career," the two
time MVP said. "It was at Belleville many years ago, Jim Kimmel
brought in a major team and we drew Rusty Bumgardner and the
Long Haul team. The only thing we won that day was the coin toss.
And it pissed them off because we took visitors, so they could only
bat twice, and we lost 29-2. That was the only time my parents had
seen me do anything for softball, so I invited them out tonight and I am
really glad they are here to see that I can win something!
But you know what, I appreciated that ass kicking on that day. Because
it showed us where we are at that time and if you ever want to get
better, you need to take the lumps, take the ass beatings. I really wish
more of these younger players and teams thought like that. B3 was a
good example. They loved playing teams that might be better than them,
because thats how you get tested, thats how you get better. And I
applaud B3 for that, because most teams just want to show up and
find the easiest way to win a trophy.
The first time I really played good competition was against guys like Todd Marvin, DD Hudnal and they pounded us. I watched DD
hit some of the farthest balls I have ever seen and I remember thinking that I wanted to quit right then and there because I didnt want
to play if it was always going to be like this. But you know what, it always gets better and it did for me."
The night concluded with a drawing that was done to give away some Combat t-shirts and Easton pants and pullovers, and also
three softball bats. Two Combat bats and one Easton. Rusty and I had some fun on the stage poking fun at each others bat company
(Combat vs Easton) and in the end, everyone had a great time. The night carried over to the after party at Club Noma, where about
50 people attended, including Rusty, to finish off the 2010 season in style!
Look for some big announcements in the coming weeks including new additions to the SKS family.
So that does it for another year of Street Kids Softball. As we have said during the banquet, and I will say it again now, we could
not have done any of this without the help of all of our sponsors, including a few that must be mentioned: Easton Sports,
Pennsylvania Avenue Sports, Matt Lavender of Suburban Softball, Home Comfort Experts, Buffalo Wild Wings, Langer Sports,
Center Street Pub, State Farm-John Dunkel, Starcraft Bus and Pinnacle Athletic Club, just to name a few. And we cannot leave out
our players, who made the season memorable on and off the field, and finally to our wives and girlfriends. Without you, we would
not be able to do this at all. You women understand our passion and love for this game and instead of trying to stop it, you enable it,
thus making us hopefully all stronger husbands and boyfriends.
To my wife, Courtney, thanks for everything. Behind everything, no matter what I do, who I help, or what I write, there's you. Its
always been you.
To see over 100 pictures from the event, including some from the after party, "like" the Street Kids Fan Page on Facebook
or just click this Facebook logo.. >>>>
| Joe Horvath of SKS took home three awards on Saturday night, including the overall MVP, which he also won in 2009. |
| Jason Jeffery was honored twice on Saturday, including winning the league player of the year honors. |
| TJ Jorgensen speaks at the Marriott Hotel on Saturday during the Street Kids awards banquet. |
| Legendary Rusty Bumgardner was the guest speaker and also presented the MVP award to Joe Horvath. |
| Todd Mann of Home Comfort Experts presented the Street Kids Care Humanitarian Award to Shane Varga. |
| Jim Kimmel of the NSA announced that Street Kids Care will be on the ballot for the national NSA Hall of Fame next year. |
| Rusty Bumgardner poses with Joe Horvath, who took home three awards on Saturday night. |
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