Sunday, September 24, 2006

At today's Lou Gehrig League season ending awards banquet, Gary Carmona won the Charlie Aickley Award. This honor is given to the MVP of the Colt Division, and is named for former Lou Gehrig player Charlie Aickely.

Charlie played for Lou Gehrig in 1998, and was the MVP for Colt Division Champion Jules Tavern. An outfielder and pitcher, Charlie was among the league leader in all offensive categories, including scoring 31 runs in 18 games. Charlie was also 6-2 on the mound. Tragically, in 2003, at the age of 21, Charlie passed away. In his honor, we now award a special MVP award to a player from the Colt Division.

This passed season, Gary lead Hamilton Elks to the Division Championship. A pitcher/shortstop, Gary was a leader in all offensive categories. He hit .459 (6th), had 17 hits (2nd), 5 doubles (3rd), and scored 17 runs (4th). He also played a great shortstop, and found time to have a 3-0 record on the mound.

Gary is the fourth player to win this award. Past winners are Joe Casano (2003), Kayron Jones (2004), and Jim O'Boyle (2005). Gary is actually the first player who was not a pitcher/outfielder to win the award.