Powell, Armentrout Earn Top Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Awards
The Richmond Region’s finest high school scholar-athletes were rewarded for their hard work last night at the Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete Awards Dinner at The Jefferson Hotel. 2017 celebrates the 26th anniversary of the program that honors area scholar-athletes for their athletic, academic, and extracurricular achievements. Since the program’s inception in 1992, over $1 million in scholarships has been awarded to 514 outstanding student-athletes from the Richmond region.
Top honors and $7,500 scholarships went to Dillon Powell of Midlothian High School and Alyse Armentrout of Atlee High School. The $5,000 runner’s up scholarships went to Antonio Balducci of Hanover High School and Morgan Lewis from Veritas School. The remaining 16 scholar-athletes won scholarships of $2,500 each. They were:
Girls Boys
| Grace Clarke | Midlothian | Jackson Barkstrom | St. Christopher’s | |
| Rebecca Fagan | Glen Allen | Kyle Brumbaugh | James River | |
| Kelli Nee | Powhatan | Drew Buckley | Monacan | |
| Grayson Radcliffe | Patrick Henry | Tanner Hood | St. Christopher’s | |
| Taya Robinson | Huguenot/Community | Jack McSorley | Douglas Freeman | |
| Aidan Rossman | Patrick Henry | Bashir Mosavel-Lo | Deep Run | |
| Nina Sorkin | Deep Run | Waleed Suliman | Douglas Freeman | |
| Megan Walker | Monacan | Nicholas Woolfolk | Thomas Jefferson |
The awards ceremony began with a special tribute to Everette “Buddy” Allen, a long-time supporter of Sports Backers and the Scholar-Athlete program, who passed away on May 29 after a long illness. Allen was an honors student and decorated athlete at John Marshall High School and a 1962 graduate of Randolph-Macon College, where he also played football, basketball, and baseball. He would later be inducted into the R-MC Athletics Hall of Fame. After graduating from Randolph-Macon, he pursued a law degree from the University of Virginia and spent his entire career as an attorney in Richmond, becoming a well-known and well-respected litigator. Allen had a staunch desire to recognize outstanding scholar-athletes and followed that up with financial support and significant gifts, encouraging the creation of an endowment program to build up the long-term support of the scholarships. Thanks to Buddy Allen and those he inspired, the Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar-Athlete program has surpassed $1 million in total scholarships awarded and continues to grow each year.
HCA Virginia Sports Medicine also presented its male and female Comeback Athletes of the Year at the dinner. The awards recognize high school athletes who have overcome major injuries or illnesses during their careers and returned to playing their sports. The male winner was Hunter Edmonds, a football player at Cosby, and the female winner was Emily Jacob, a basketball and soccer player at Atlee. They each received a $1,000 scholarship and a $500 donation to their respective high school.
Williams Mullen will also be awarding a $1,000 scholarship to the male and female Teams of the Year as well as a $500 scholarship to the runner-up teams. These winners will be announced at the conclusion of the spring sports season.
The continued support of the Richmond Times-Dispatch has been crucial during the entire duration of the Scholar-Athlete program, and they recently committed to a five-year renewal of their sponsorship to highlight the academic, athletic, and extracurricular achievements of student-athletes throughout the Richmond region.
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