Gordon Wins Brooks Wallace Award

LUBBOCK, Texas ??A nationwide panel of voters named Alex Gordon of the University of Nebraska the winner of the 2005 Brooks Wallace Award and gave the Kansas City Royals’ draftee a clean sweep of the season’s top player awards.

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.

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 postseason 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). The show will also be aired in Nebraska on Fox Sports Midwest on July 9th at 5 p.m.

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 72 games this season in leading the Cornhuskers to a school-record 57 wins and the school’s third College World Series appearance in five years. 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. He ranked among the Big 12 leaders in 12 offensive categories, and topped the league in runs scored, doubles, total bases, walks, slugging percentage and on-base 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.
As of 6/30 the flowing airings have been scheduled.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

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 p.m.

FSN West                     7/4        10:00 p.m.

FSN Southwest             7/6        12 p.m.

FSN Northwest              7/6        1:00 p.m.

FSN West                     7/7        5:00 p.m.

FSC Pacific                   7/7        8 p.m.

FSC Pacific                   7/7        4 a.m.

FSC Atlantic                  7/9        3 p.m.

FSN <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Florida                  7/9        3:00 p.m.

FSN Midwest                 7/9        5:00 p.m.

FSN West                     7/10      8:00 p.m.

FSN Northwest              7/16      1:00 p.m.