Reducing the group of 10 finalists for the Dave C. Shea Sportsmanship Award to two proved to be a very difficult task for the staff of the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club.

Picking between Courtney Sherwin and Jed McRoberts proved to be impossible.

So for the second time in the history of the award, which began in 1995 as the Sir Thomas Lipton Award, there co-recipients on Friday night. The first time came in the 2008 when Holli Cota and Mike King shared the award which each year honors longtime “Journal-Advance News” Sports Editor Dave Shea for his commitment to Sportsmanship in his coverage and for his contributions to the OBGC.

McRoberts is the son of Scott and Angie McRoberts and Sherwin is the daughter of Chris and Michelle Sherwin. Rounding out the field of 10 worthy candidates were: Connor Badlam, Peyton Lalone, Kristen Synder, Vinnie Molinari, Riley Luckie, Justyn McCormick, Cale Sargent and Jordan Miller.

All of the finalists were asked to write an essay on “How Being A Member of the Club has taught me sportsmanship”.

“It was an excellent group of candidates and we just couldn’t get down to one recipient,” said OBGC Executive Director Tom Luckie Jr.

The presentation of the award culminated an evening which annually kicks off the OBGC Summer Activities schedule.

In earlier presentations Riley Luckie received the Russ McDonald Memorial Service Award and Justyn McCormick received the Keith Knowlton Memorial Award as the club’s Table Tennis Champion.

Special recognition also went to Konnor Murdock who was previously selected as the OBGC Youth of the Year and a finalist at a state competition and LeMoyne bound Sean Love who received the J. Russell Phillips Memorial Scholarship in memory of one of the OBGC’s founding fathers.

Debbie McDonald, the widow of Russ McDonald, presented the Russ McDonald Service Award and Don and Judy Ashley presented the J. Russell Phillips Scholarship.

Several members of the OBGC received Sports Camp Awards in memory of Russ McDonald: Mecci, Mesean, Marcus and Kierra Johnson, Jackson Jones, Joey Dalton, Noah Moore, Austin Patterson and Cooper Hunter. Hannah Degraw received the Anne Lynch Memorial Sports Camp Award.

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