 | Atlanta Braves' Jeff Francoeur is FCA Gwinnett Guest of Honor at its 2008 Inaugural Awards Ceremony.
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'08 Awards Recap
FCA Gwinnett held its first annual FCA Awards Ceremony, Tuesday, February 5, at First Baptist Snellville showcasing the county's finest professional, college and high school personalities.
Bill Gifford, the Gwinnett FCA Chapter’s Area Director declared, “For our first annual event, we were tremendously blessed with the results. Over 600 people attended and had the opportunity to mingle with some of Gwinnett’s best known sports figures and celebrate the athletes and coaches who are making a difference in the lives of others within our schools in Gwinnett County.”
At the FCA Awards event, the organization gave its top awards to Luke Keller from Parkview High School as the Male Athlete of the Year and Brooke Hoppmeyer from Mill Creek High School as the Female Athlete of the Year. Mark Whitley, Mickey Conn, and David Snell were all honored as Coaches of the Year. The Legacy Award went to Kyle Maynard, a previous high school standout wrestler from Collin’s Hill, ESPN ESPY winner, current author of the book No Excuses and world known motivational speaker.
Parkview High School graduate and Atlanta Braves Jeff Francoeur delivered the keynote address, then surprised the crowd by auctioning off private one-on-one batting instructions at Turner Field including a jersey and free tickets to an Atlanta Braves Baseball game this summer. The event featured a sports memorabilia auction with best in class professional sports items including an Eli and Peyton Manning autographed football and jersey.
For the awards, a selection committee of noted Gwinnett business, professional athletes, high school athletics and religious leaders were assembled by Gifford and the event's chair, Mark Tibbetts, President of Tibs. High school coaches across the county nominated students who best exemplified the FCA values of integrity, service, teamwork and excellence, in and out of their sports.
“The nomination and selection process followed very strict guidelines with the selection committee making their final choices just last week," said Tibbetts. "These awards are some of the most coveted awards in Gwinnett high school athletics that an individual could be recognized for. Just being nominated by their peers is a tremendous honor.”
"God's blessing on this event was truly apparent. This event is just the beginning of great things to come for the FCA ministry in Gwinnett county," stated Shane Williamson, FCA Metro Atlanta Area Director. "Tonight we heard some great testimonies, raised money along the way and most importantly had individuals that accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior."
Read more about the excitement at this FCA awards event in this Gwinnett Daily Post article by Ben Beitzel, Staff Writer. | |
2008 Award Winners
Legacy Award
Kyle Maynard, Collins Hill High School graduate
Female Student Athlete of the Year
Brooke Hoppmeyer - Mill Creek High School
Male Athlete of the Year
Luke Keller, Parkview High School
Coach(s) of the Year
Mikey Conn, Grayson High School Football Coach
David Snell, Buford High School Track Coach and Football Assistant
Mark Whitley, Parkview High School Track Coach and Football Assistant  |
Maynard wins Legacy Award
Kyle Maynard, the courageous Collins Hill High School wrestler who won the ESPN ESPY in 2004, received the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Gwinnett's first Legacy Award.
Author of the book No Excuses, Maynard lives life with no excuses. He was born with congential amputation, a condition that left him with arms that end at the elbows and legs that end near the knees. Yet despite those challenges, he was one of Georgia's top wrestlers, amassing 35 wins while a student wrestler at Collins Hill, and later in 2005, he set a world record in bench pressing.
Maynard, a motivational speaker, has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, ABC's 20/20, Good Morning America, the CBS Early Show, and on the cover of USA Today. He is currently working on a television series portraying his life storyand those of others to provide hope and inspiration for anyone in need. Thank You 2008 Catalysts
A special thanks to the 2008 Catalysts and all the hard work and dedication they had to make this a spectacular sports event and fantastic fundraiser for FCA Gwinnett.
Brookwood - Ross Powell
Collins Hill - Tom Ownbey
Dacula - Keg Giles
Grayson - Rick Pruitt
Mill Creek - Todd Hoppmeyer
Norcross - Richard Hanley
North Gwinnett - Tim Byerly
Parkview - Rachel Payne
Peachtree Ridge - Cory Blackwell
Shiloh - Mike Wilson
Buford - Hoyt Gazaway
GAC - Greg Grimes
Hebron - Tad Stephens |
