NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt senior Harrison Ray has been named to the 2020 Southeastern Conference Baseball Community Service Team, the league office announced Monday. The award recognizes student-athletes for accomplishments outside the field of competition.
The conference names a community service team for each of its 21 league-sponsored sports looking to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to his or her community through superior service efforts.
Ray has spearheaded community service efforts for the Commodore baseball program including initiatives such as giving back to the community as part of Nashville’s tornado relief. He also recently served as team captain for Dancing Dores, an annual Vanderbilt event raising funds and support for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital.
With Ray’s help, the 13-hour event contributed $43,000. In 15-plus years the event has contributed more than $2 million to the hospital.
One priority for the Longwood, Florida, native has been his relationship with nearby Buena Vista Elementary. Recently, Ray led and coordinated a baseball clinic for second graders at the school, teaching the skills of the sport while putting on a whiffle ball game.
Around holidays, Ray and other student-athletes helped put local kids in the spirit. For Halloween, he led a safe trick-or-treat experience, escorting students from Buena Vista and the Martha O’Bryan Center to Greek houses on campus. In December, Ray and other student-athletes purchased and presented gifts to assigned Buena Vista first graders at the Vanderbilt holiday party.
With Ray’s leadership, during the 2019-20 school year, Vanderbilt baseball logged 136 ½ hours of community service.
