Martin Oil pitcher/infielder Zach Stere has been awarded the NABF Ronald and Irene McMinn and Germaine and Edward ”Red” Carrington Scholarship by the National Amateur Baseball Federation.
The NABF has a history of helping sandlot baseball grow. The organization was brought into existence in 1914. Since then, in times of peace and prosperity, dispite wars and recessions, there has always been the year-after-year on-the-field excitement of NABF National and Regional Tournaments.
In 1984, an NABF Scholarship Fund was established and the first scholarship was presented in 1985. Named after the NABF Executive Director emeritus and his wife, the Ronald and Irene McMinn Scholarship is an annual NABF award. In 1988, Mr. McMinn, in memory of his late wife Irene, generously endowed the fund so that several NABF Scholarship Awards could be made each year.
In 2000, Edward “Red” Carrington, Past President of NABF and long-time President of Ft. Wayne Baseball Federation, bequeathed a generous scholarship fund in memory of both he and his wife Germaine. The Germaine and Edward “Red” Carrington Scholarship Fund and the McMinn Fund are the basis for the overall NABF Scholarship program. Red Carrington had remarkable, durable and effective relationship with the NABF, which he joined after the conclusion of World War I.
To be eligible for the award, the candidate must be enrolled in an accredited college or university, must have been a bona fide participant in an NABF event, and must be sponsored by an NABF member association.
Selection of award winners are made by the federation’s scholarship fund committee. It is based on grades, financial need and previous awards to candidates from a sponsoring association.
Stere is the sixth recipient from the George B. Kelley Federation in the 19-year history of the award. Chris Burr was the first local winner in 1985, followed by Michael Adams in 1989, Jordon Welsh from Tyrone in 1996, Daniel McConnell in 1997, James R. McGough in 1999 and Stere joins the others in the class of 2003. This year there are 13 award winners.
Stere played shortstop and pitcher on the 2003 Bellwood-Antis High School state baseball champion team this past spring, where he batted .413, leading the team with five home runs and compiled 5-0 record on the pitching mound with an ERA of 2.23. Zach then switched his talents to the Martin Oil team in the George B. Kelley Federation. Along with Nate Carlson, Dan Houser, Cory Daly and Derrick and Damion Miller, Stere helped lead the Bellwood-Antis school district-based team to their third straight Kelley regular season and playoff championship. For the third consecutive year, Martin Oil was the official home team for the NABF Regional Tournament. Stere hit a robust .465, leading the team in hits, runs scored, doubles, home runs and RBIs. On the mound, Stere went 3-1 with a team-low .188 opponents’ batting average, a 2.05 ERA, two saves and 35 strikeouts in 30 and 1/3 innings pitched.
Statistics alone do not describe the role Zach played in Martin Oil’s third straight Kelley championship.
Martin Oil manager Ed Davis remembered one incident when Stere visited Davis before the federation season began. “Here Zach was, just coming from a state championship with the high school baseball team where he played an important part at shortstop and pitcher. He came to the house and asked me where he would be playing. When I said ‘Wherever I needed you most,’ all Zach said was ‘That’s OK with me.’ That is the kind of person Zach Stere is. He is not an I-type, but is real team-oriented. He played shortstop, second base, first base and as a pitcher for us was both a starter and reliever and he did them all well. I am really happy that the NABF recognized Zach with the scholarship.”
Stere, the son of Duane and Sue Stere, is attending UPJ and playing baseball for the Mountain Cats.
