50th Annual Winfield Awards Honors 20 St. Paul Student Athletes at Historic Banquet With David Winfield as Keynote Speaker
MSR sports columnist Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald reports on the 50th Annual Winfield Awards banquet, held June 1 at the Intercontinental St. Paul-Riverfront Hotel, where 20 student athletes from 10 St. Paul high schools were honored, two educators received special recognition and Baseball Hall of Famer David Winfield served as keynote speaker.
The 50th Annual Winfield Awards student athlete banquet, honoring 20 student athletes from 10 St. Paul high schools, was held Sunday, June 1, at the Intercontinental St. Paul-Riverfront Hotel in St. Paul. Prior to honoring the student athletes, two important awards were presented.
W. Rayford Johnson was presented the Trail Blazer Award for his work and promotion of music as an educator for the St. Paul Public Schools, as was the case for Arline V. Winfield Award winner and legendary SPPS educator Rhoda Stroud.
Following the presentations honoring two of St. Paul’s finest, WCCO Radio personalities Henry Lake and Vineeta Sawkar presented the Winfield Awards recipients.
The following student athletes, which include a female and male from each school, were honored.
Central — Vita Hochuli and Tesfaamlak Sturm; Como Park — Sofia Gonzalez and Jonas Tetevi; Cretin Derham Hall — Grace Kemp and Jo Jo Mitchell; Harding — Evalyn Xiong and Nasir Yeah; Highland Park — Ellie Pavlis and Miles Robinson; Humboldt — Say Paw Htoo and Edward Chang; Johnson — Allyson Vue and Jacoby Wiggins; St. Agnes — Daniela Lopez-Moran and Evons Plamann; St. Paul Academy and Summit — Lucia Gonzalez and Ezra Cunningham; Washington Technology — Charlotte Brown and Maverick Ward.
Major League Hall of Famer, World Series Champion, and St. Paul Central High School alum David M. Winfield, for whom the award is named, served as the keynote speaker.
A day earlier, an unveiling of the David M. Winfield Statue took place at Toni Stone Field at the Dunning Athletic Complex in St. Paul with family and friends in attendance.
The Winfield Awards student athlete banquet was first held in 1977.
Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses at mcdeezy05@gmail.com.