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1996-1997 HUMANITARIAN AWARD WINNER
University of Michigan Defenseman
In an era where arrests and convictions have too frequently become sports statistics, we offer you this story of hope. This story is for those who are weary of reading about Patrick Roy getting busted for a bar altercation, or Dennis Rodman kicking a photographer in the groin, or any number of wild Dallas Cowboy tales.
This story is for those who judge players by their principles, and not by their offensive totals.
This story is for those who would rather have their children grow up to be a great person over being a great scorer.
This story is for those parents who get giddy when their child earns a Baker Winner's Circle patch from Michigan Hockey Magazine for having a high grade-point average.
This story is about University of Michigan defenseman Blake Sloan, who will never make a million dollars in hockey, but he might help a million people in his life. He's a Hall of Fame person, not a Hall of Fame player.
And even if he could, he probably wouldn't change that.
That's why he has been named 1996-97 recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian award, given annually to the player judged "college hockey's finest citizen." Sloan, a regular on Michigan's No. 1-ranked squad, was cited for his numberous charitable acts, including a program that sends Michigan's athletes into local elementary school classrooms to help students learn to improve their reading. Since Sloan dreamed up the program, 75 athletes have visited classrooms in the past 15 months. "Sloan seemingly has an internal flame that continually drives him to give of himself," said Michigan community relations Liaison Nayla Assam, who nominated Sloan.
He's also involved with a drug education program and co-chaired a charity auction to raise money to help Boston University player Travis Roy, who was paralyzed by a freak accident during a game. Sloan also organizes visits to the Michigan locker room by young hospital patients. He's always the player who spends the most time with patients. "College players have a very demanding schedule and I am amazed that Blake can find time to balance everything," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
The award is given by the Hockey Humanitarian Foundation, a Boston-based group founded by Jeff Millman and John Greenhalgh. Millman said the award was created because he and Greenhalgh were weary of the amount of attention athletes were receiving for criminal acts. They no longer wanted to read about the latest Cowboys indiscretion, and they never really cared much about what color Rodman's hair was going to be. Millman said they got the idea for the award after watching Boston University goaltender J.P. McKersie donate his time last season as a youth coach. In the midst of fighting back from a terrible bicycle accident, McKersie still had time to give to kids. McKersie's story inspired Millman and Greenhalgh to organize an award that placed a premium on someone's character. "We wanted to honor an athlete for being a decent human being," Millman said.
They hope that the award becomes a national treasure, a reminder of the sports world that we should be devoting more time to celebrating quality people and less time highlighting encounters with the law. In reality, there are many, many quality people in hockey whose off-the-ice accomplishments never hit the newspaper. There's simply not enough space after we publish the police blotter, reveal the inner workings of contract negotiations and spend tons of inches trying to explain playoff permutations. When someone like Sloan leads an exemplary life, it just isn't considered news. The newspaper world believes people won't want to read about that, at least not when there's a big game to be chronicled. To their credit, Millman and Greenhalgh hope to change that, if only just a little.
Other finalists were Michael Corbett (University of Denver), Mike Noble (Brown University), April Zenisky(Amherst) and Shawn Zimmerman (Western Michigan). All were players whose performances off the ice was All-Star caliber.
Millman said his committee wasn't trying to find "another Hobey Baker winner." The committee didn't review any statistics, except maybe the number of lives touched in a player's career.
As we review a person's accomplishments during his or her career, that's probably the most important statistic of all.
By Kevin Allen |
Blake Sloan 