ABCA/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award.HANK BURBRIDGE 1936-2005 Hank Burbridge served as the head baseball coach at Spring Arbor University The university offers over 40 program majors and is recognized for its strong Liberal Arts curriculum and Christian atmosphere. Most students are from various Protestant denominations, over 42 denominations are represented on the campus. for 40 years, retiring in 2004. During that time, the Cougars won numerous titles including three trips to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Burbridge has been recognized by the ABCA on several occasions, including induction into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2003 and reception of the Century Club Award, recognizing 25 years of service. In addition, the ABCA and NAIA teamed up to name an award in his honor. Josh Underhill from Cumberland University and the Embry-Riddle University baseball team were the most recent recipients of the Hank Burbridge Champion of Character Awards in 2005. The NAIA also recognized Burbridge as the National Coach of the Year in 2004 and the recipient of the Robert E. Smith
Among the numerous honors Burbridge has collected, he has been named to five Halls of Fame. In addition to the ABCA, he has been inducted into the Halls of Fame of Spring Arbor University, Greenville College, the NAIA and the NCCAA. Burbridge served on the ABCA Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. He was also a member of the United States Baseball Board of Directors. He served as president of the NAIA Baseball Coaches Association, chaired its National Tournament Committee, and the All-American Committee. Burbridge passed away on Feb. 18, after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his loving wife of 45 years, Pat (Scittine) Burbridge; two daughters, Patti (Tim) Johnston of Spring Arbor, and Lesley (Daniel) Bates of Nashville, Tenn.; grandchildren, Nicholas Henry Johnston and Taylor Rose Johnston; and his mother, Eleanor Burbridge. Named after the great Lefty Gomez, the ABCA's annual award is presented to an individual who has distinguished himself among his peers and has contributed significantly to baseball locally, nationally, and internationally. The Lefty Gomez Award is sponsored by Wilson Sporting Goods The Wilson Sporting Goods company is a sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., and currently is a foreign subsidiary of the Finnish company Amer Sports that also owns Atomic, Suunto, Precor, and Salomon. . RELATED ARTICLE: Past Lefty Gomez Award Winners 1962 Abe Chanin, Collegiate Baseball 1963 Robert L. Culp, Western Michigan University Western Michigan University, at Kalamazoo, Mich.; coeducational; founded in 1903 as Western State Normal School, became accredited in 1927 as a college, gained university status in 1957. 1964 Pop McKale, University of Arizona (body, education) University of Arizona - The University was founded in 1885 as a Land Grant institution with a three-fold mission of teaching, research and public service. 1965 John Kobs, Michigan State University Michigan State University, at East Lansing; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855. It opened in 1857 as Michigan Agricultural College, the first state agricultural college. 1966 J. Kyle Anderson, University of Chicago 1967 Eppy Barnes, Colgate University 1968 Dutch Fehring, Stanford University 1969 John Diesing, College World Series, Inc. 1970 L.C. Timm, Iowa State University Academics ISU is best known for its degree programs in science, engineering, and agriculture. ISU is also home of the world's first electronic digital computing device, the Atanasoff–Berry Computer. 1971 Rev. R.C. Williams, Creighton University 1972 Lee Eilbracht, University of Illinois 1973 Jack Kaiser, St. John's University 1974 Les Miller, University of Illinois at Chicago This article is about the University of Illinois at Chicago. For other uses, see University of Illinois at Chicago (disambiguation). UIC participates in NCAA Division I Horizon League competition as the UIC Flames in several sports, most notably Basketball. 1975 Tom Petroff, University of Northern Colorado  It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with and ()University of Northern Colorado (Northern Colorado) 1976 Danny Litwhiler, Michigan State U. 1977 Lou Spry, NCAA 1978 Dick Siebert, University of Minnesota 1979 Jack Stallings, Georgia Southern University 1980 Rod Dedeaux, University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission 1981 Les Murakami, University of Hawaii 1982 Tom Chandler, Texas A & M University 1983 Chuck Brayton, Washington State University 1984 Robert Smith, USBF/IBA 1985 Peter Ueberroth, Major League Baseball 1986 John Winkin, University of Maine 1987 John Scolinos, California State Polytecnic University, Pomona 1988 Ron Polk, Mississippi State University 1989 Ron Fraser, University of Miami 1990 Glen Tuckett, Brigham Young University 1991 Gordon Gillespie, College of St. Francis 1992 Lou Pavlovich, Sr., Collegiate Baseball 1993 Archic Allen, Springfield College 1994 Sam Suplizio, University of Colorado 1995 Harold "Pinky" Primrose, Washington High School (IA)/Coe College 1996 Mark Marquess, Stanford University 1997 Gene McArtor, University of Missouri 1998 Elmer Kosub, St. Mary's University 1999 Jerry Kindall, University of Arizona 2000 Bob Bennett, Fresno State University 2001 Bill Arce, Claremont-Mudd College 2002 Dave Keilitz, Central Michigan University 2003 Dr. Carroll Land, Point Loma Nazarene University 2004 John Herbold, California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (also known as Cal State L.A., CSULA, or "'CSLA"') is a public university, part of the California State University system. 2005 John Cunningham, U. of San Diego |
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