April 20, 2015
Rayner’s Photos | History of Black & Gold Banquet Award Winners
James Siakam was named the first recipient undergraduate of the Perry Wallace Courage Award as one of the highlights to the Black and Gold Awards, an annual program produced by Vanderbilt’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) that was held on campus Monday evening.
Siakam, a graduating member of the basketball team, was judged by his peers as best representing the traits of Perry Wallace, the first African-American basketball player in the Southeastern Conference who went on to a a stellar professional career in law. Siakam had an excellent senior season despite the unexpected death of his father in his native Cameroon last fall. Wallace himself had been named the first recipient when the award was created last fall.
Senior golf star Hunter Stewart was presented with the James. A. Robins Award, given annually for 52 years to the student-athlete who best possesses the traits of selfless devotion to learning and to honor and participate in athletics of “Mr. Jim”, Class of 1892. Stewart led the Commodore men’s golf team to its best season in history and is in contention for a wealth of major golf honors that include Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and is a semi-finalist for the Ben Hogan Award (college golf’s most prestigious award). He was named to the USA’s Palmer Cup team.
Football’s Alex Hysong earned the Jerry Reves Award for the student-athlete with the highest grade point average. Alex has a 3.990 with a perfect 4.0 in six of his seven semesters. He has been accepted into Vanderbilt’s School of Medicine.
Two of the most coveted awards are Mr. and Miss Commodore, voted upon by the entire student-athlete population to the Commodores who best represent their sport. Rebecca Ryan was named Miss Commodore. The senior has been a mainstay on the lacrosse team while being named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll every year. She will join Goldman Sachs upon graduation in a few weeks. Mr. Commodore went to the popular Siakam, who in addition to his on-court energy was also a member of the SEC’s Community Service team for his charitable work.
There was strong competition for the Male and Female Newcomer of the Year awards. Golfer Cindy Ha was the female selection after being in her Top 20 team’s lineup all season, winning one individual tournament title and posting two top five finishes and helping her team finish third in the SEC Championship. The Male Newcomer of the Year was Riley LaChance who made the SEC All-Freshman team after averaging 12.3 points per game and earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors four times.
Track’s Erin Edmond and baseball’s Dansby Swanson were named the Comeback Players of the Year. Edmond overcame serious injuries to both legs to produce a terrific career. After being sidelined for over a year with surgery to insert rods into each leg, Edmond was a member of the 4×400 relay team that set a school record and eighth-best national time this year. She also owns the school record in the 500. Swanson overcame an injury plagued freshman season to lead the Commodores to baseball’s national championship , earning MVP honors at the 2014 College World Series. He was named a first-team All-American.
The Female and Male Plays of the Year were also very contested. Track and soccer sophomore star Simone Charley earned the Female Play of the Year Award for placing fourth in the NCAA Triple Jump — her second All-America award. She is also an all-SEC soccer performer. The Male Play of the Year went as a collective effort to the baseball team for its College World Series championship.
Football’s Andrew East was spotlighted with the Community Service Award. East has a lengthy service resume that includes frequent visits to the Monroe Carell Jr., Children’s Hospital, local elementary school classes, mentoring recovering addicts at area non-profits, assisting the homeless at Room in the Inn and spring break mission trips to Peru, Haiti and Mexico.
The women’s swimming team earned recognition for its fund-raising work on behalf of the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. The swim team topped all other programs in the Commodores Compete for a Cause program.
The SACC program presents “Shining Star Awards” with each team voting upon its winning recipient. Those winners include:
Rayte’a Long, Women’s Basketball
Hannah Martin, Swimming
Rebeca Reguero, Bowling
Taylor Elliott, Soccer
Lauren Johnson, Women’s Golf
Annie Vreeland, Lacrosse
Jeff Roberson, Men’s Basketball
Tyler Campbell, baseball
Sarah Goodale, Track
Becca Chandler, Women’s Cross Country
Dan Henderson, Men’s Cross Country
Davis Dudchock, Football
Matthias Schwab, Men’s Golf
Tate Allwardt, Men’s Tennis
Payton Robinette, Women’s Tennis
In addition, teams could elect to produce videos that represented their sports — usually in a humorous vein — and those entries were shown during the program. Golfer Irina Gabasa produced an outstanding video on what it is like to be a Vanderbilt student-athlete that opened the program.
