Player of the Year Trophy Awarded On Nationally
Televised Fox Sports Net Broadcast
The Brooks Wallace Award is presented
annually by the College Baseball Foundation to the National Player of the Year
in NCAA Division I baseball. It is the only award that accounts for the full
season of collegiate play, including all post-season competition. The CBF
National Selection Committee is comprised of coaches, writers, broadcasters,
sports information directors and former winners who follow the game
closely.
The presentation was made Thursday night at a sold-out banquet
at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock. The program will be broadcast on Fox Sports
Southwest on Monday, July 4 at 8 p.m. (CDT).
By winning the Brooks
Wallace Award, Gordon becomes a consensus Player of the Year choice for 2005,
winning the third leg of the Triple Crown of major awards for a college baseball
player. Gordon previously was named the winner of the Dick Howser Award by the
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association for his outstanding play during
the regular season. He also earned the Golden Spikes Award from USA Baseball as
the nation’s top amateur player over the past year, which included leading Team
USA to 2004 FISU World University Championship.
Gordon also was the first
college player taken in the Major League Draft as the Kansas City Royals
selected him second overall.
Gordon earned the honor over two other
finalists, pitchers Luke Hochevar of the University of Tennessee and Lance
Broadway of Texas Christian University.
Gordon started all 69 games this
season in leading the Cornhuskers (56-13) three games deep into the College
World Series. The junior third baseman finished the season with a .372 batting
average, 19 home runs and 66 runs batted in. He also hit 22 doubles, stole 23
bases in 26 attempts, and had a .715 slugging percentage.
The Brooks
Wallace Award is dedicated to the memory of the former Texas Tech player and
assistant coach, who was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech from 1977 to
1980. A four-year starter, he was named All-Southwest Conference and
All-District Six his senior year, when he led the Red Raiders to their
first-ever appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament. After playing two
years in the Texas Rangers organization, he returned to Texas Tech and served as
a graduate assistant, and later as an assistant coach. In the summer of 1984 he
was diagnosed with cancer and fought the disease courageously until his death on
March 24, 1985, at age 27. The Plano, Texas, native was married to the former
Sandy Arnold and they had one daughter, Lindsay Ryan.
Kurt Suzuki of Cal
State Fullerton won the 2004 Brooks Wallace Award, and the awards’ lineage
includes former Player of the Year winners Andy Benes, Ben McDonald, Mike Kelly,
Bobby Jones, Mike Smith, Darren Dreifort, Jason Varitek, Mark Kotsay, Kris Benson, Lance Berkman, Brad Wilkerson and Jason Jennings.
The one-hour
Brooks Wallace Award presentation debuts on Fox Sports Southwest, on Monday,
July 4th at 8 p.m. (CDT), it will be carried nationally by FSN affiliates such
as Sun Network, Fox Sports Southeast, FSN Arizona, FSN Northwest and FSN West,
and Fox College Sports networks (Atlantic, Central and Pacific) throughout July.
Please check your local listings, as the
As of 6/30 the flowing airings
have been scheduled.
All times listed are CDT.
FSN Southwest 7/4 8
p.m.
FSC Atlantic 7/4 8 p.m.
FSC Atlantic 7/4 1 a.m.
FSN
South 7/4 8:00 PM
FSN West 7/4 10:00 PM
FSN Southwest 7/6 12
p.m.
FSN Northwest 7/6 1:00 PM
FSN West 7/7 5:00 PM
FSC
Pacific 7/7 8 p.m.
FSC Pacific 7/7 4 a.m.
FSC Atlantic 7/9 3
p.m.
FSN Florida 7/9 3:00 PM
FSN Midwest 7/9 5:00 PM
FSN
West 7/10 8:00 PM
FSN Northwest 7/16 1:00 PM
Fox College Sports - http://www.msn.foxsports.com/fcs
College
Baseball Foundation - http://www.collegebaseballfoundation.org