'Coach of the Year' Honored at 2nd Annual Banquet

On Sept. 17, Glen and the friendly staff at Beef 'O' Brady's on 56th Street hosted the second annual Coach of the Year Banquet for the Temple Terrace Parks and Recreation Department.

Beef 'O' Brady's was the sponsor, and served up some great food to our coaches for free in recognition of their service to the community. Tampa Catholic Basketball Coach (and Athletic Director) Don Dziagwa spoke to the group of local coaches on the importance of giving back to the community and the important role that they play with these young adults.

The top honor of the night, the James Chambers' Coach of the Year Trophy named after our director (who has 39 years of service in Temple Terrace), went to King High School graduate and Temple Terrace local, Kevin Donaldson. Kevin was surprised and honored to recieve the award.

On a personal note, it was very rewarding for me to see Kevin receive the award as he is someone that I spent a lot of time working with while he was in high school as a member of our facility. It is great to see him giving back; Kevin is a tremendous asset to our athletic programs.

Some other awards were given to coaches in jest. They were as follows:

"There is Always Next Year" award - Tony Pesavento (0-10 season)

"The First to Worst" award - Virgil Crump (last year's coach of the year winner)

"Three Blind Mice" Award - Stan Lewis, Marshal Dessalines and Lamarr Simon (presented to my three key referees who go above and beyond for our department)

The goal of the night was to show our appreciation for these individuals that volunteer their time to mentor and coach our community's children. As the supervisor in charge of athletics I am very fortunate to have this team of people around me that is aware of teh crticial role they play as coach. I highly recommend that anyone interested in coaching takes the next step to inquire with me today."

Temple Terrace Athletics Supervisor Scott Andrews can be reached at sandrews@templeterrace.com or 813-506-6600.