All-Time Golden Wings Award Winners
By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech Athletics continued its recognition of the best and brightest of its more than 300 student-athletes by releasing two more winners of its 2020 Golden Wings Awards.
On Thursday, it was announced that Ashley Hand of the Golden Eagle volleyball team was named the Breakthrough Female Athlete of the Year. Baseball's Jason Hinchman earned the title of Breakthrough Male Athlete of the Year.
During her freshman campaign of 2018, Hand was limited to 14 sets of action through nine matches, learning and polishing her craft from starting setter Susie Jeziorowski. As a rookie, she accounted for 26 assists (1.86/set) and four total blocks.
Entering her sophomore campaign, the Greenwood Village, Colo. Native showed off her knowledge and skill while helping lead a Golden Eagle squad that earned its first trip to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament since 2015. She played in all 112 sets among the team's 30 matches, accounting for 84 kills, 1,109 assists (9.90/set) and 42 total blocks.
Her 20 service aces ranked her second on the team. Hand took home one OVC Setter of the Week honor during the season and finished the year ranked fourth in the league in total assists and assists per set. Her 1,109 assists on the year represented the eighth-most in a single season in program history and third-most by a sophomore.
The 2018 baseball season was special, resulting in numerous school records and both the team's and OVC's first-ever NCAA Regional title and Super Regional appearance. A freshman on the squad, Hinchman saw the field sparingly, batting. 219 with seven hits, 10 runs scored, a double, three home runs and nine RBI in just 16 games while playing behind All-American first baseman Chase Chambers.
In 2019, the Winston, Ga. native got his shot to prove himself and did he ever. Hinchman erupted to lead the nation in home runs per game with a mark of 0.44. His 24 round-trippers on the year marked the second-most in the nation, and second-most in program history.
It wasn't just about the long ball though, as then-sophomore wrapped up the campaign slashing .278/.420/.697 with 55 hits, 54 runs scored, 11 doubles, the 24 bombs and 55 RBI. His 43 walks led the Golden Eagles, as did his 55 RBI. He went on to earn All-OVC First Team honors and tied the program's single-game home run record with three dingers during a midweek tilt with Valparaiso.
The Golden Wings Awards, which enters its fifth year, is an end-of-the-year award ceremony for the Tennessee Tech University student-athletes to honor and celebrate their academic and athletic accomplishments over the past complete seasons.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent cancellation of the remainder of campus activities for the 2019-20 academic year, the annual awards show was also canceled. The choice was made to still honor the student-athletes for their accomplishments, however, as each competitive season drawn from to determine the honors had been completed.
The timeframe of the awards period is the current season (2019-20 in this instance) except for sports that compete in the spring, including baseball, softball, outdoor track & field, men's golf, women's golf and tennis. With those sports typically competing with a large portion of their seasons still left at the time of the awards show, the previous campaigns (2018-19 in this instance) are recognized. The Man and Woman of the Year awards encompass the 2019-20 period for all sports.
Prior to the 2019 Golden Wings Awards, men's golf, women's golf and tennis were included from their current season, but due to scheduling conflicts and to allow a more complete campaign from which to gather nominees, the three sports were added to the rest of the spring sports in using its previous season for consideration.
Prior to the first Golden Wings Awards show, Tennessee Tech Athletics annually presented four awards to deserving student-athletes, including Male Athlete of the Year, Female Athlete of the Year, Man of the Year and Woman of the Year. The first honor established, for the 1990-91 academic year, was the Woman of the Year Award, coinciding with the first NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Two years later, in 1992-93, Tech established its Man of the Year Award. Both the Male Athlete of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year honors were added for the 1993-94 academic year. The four honors were officially adopted into the Golden Wings Awards, including criteria, for the 2016-17 academic year and all previous winners can also be found in the all-time list below.
