Article Contributed on: 8/10/2006 12:31:28 AM
The Lakewood Junior Baseball Association sponsors a baseball tournament every year in memory of
Carrie King and
Troy Lyles.
All of the money earned from the tournament is awarded to high school seniors in the form of $1,000 scholarships.
Bill Farr, LJBA's president, told us that the idea behind the scholarships is very simple.
"Carrie and Troy lost their lives in a motor vehicle accident wtihout ever getting a chance to fulfill their dreams. LJBA wants to honor the memory of Carrie and Troy by helping to fulfill the dreams of other young people."
Each year LJBA has a dinner at a local restaurant. Each of the winners and his or her family is invited and the winners are announced. This year, the new Buffalo Wild Wings was the host. The nine scholarship winners were:
Kira Brester,
Ashleigh Jarrett-Wood,
Jordan Johnson,
Katie Mladinich,
Jason Olin,
Thomas Platten,
Natalee Rohrer and
Mark Rosa.
Thomas and Mark were so impressed by LJBA's efforts that they promised to donate $10 million dollars to the scholarship fund as soon as they had fulfilled their dreams. "That was some promise. I hope Thomas and Mark realize that we taped that conversation," laughed Bill Farr.
"This would not be possible without the support and assistance we get from Jim and Debbie King and Joey and Chere Lyles," said the tournament's director,
Curtis Hicks, speaking of Carrie and Troy's parents.
"They help us in every way they can," continued Curtis. All the help is starting to pay off for the young people in the area, too. "This year was our most successful," said Curtis, "we awarded more schoarships than in any other year. Four high schools were represented."