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 six more winners of its 2020 Golden Wings Awards.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the Performance of the Year Award winner was football's Bailey Fisher and his showing in the team's double-overtime victory against Samford. Five more Golden Eagle Award winners were released as well, spanning five spring sports programs including men's golf, baseball, women's golf, softball and tennis.
Fisher turned in one of the more memorable performances in Tech football history, helping his team erase a 19-point, fourth-quarter deficit for a double-overtime victory over Samford. The quarterback finished 31-for-44 for 415 yards and 2 scores through the air and accounted for 48 yards and three more touchdowns on the ground.
In the fourth quarter and overtime alone, he tossed two TDs and ran for two more while also converting three 2-point conversions. His lofted pass to running back David Gist in the end zone resulted in the game-winning 2-point play for the 59-58 win.
An honor created by members of the Tennessee Tech SAAC, a Golden Eagle Award is presented to each of Tech's 13 teams (indoor and outdoor track & field are combined), as well as the Golden Eagle cheer and dance teams. The teams each vote to select one member of the roster whom they would hold up with pride to represent the team, who is always positive and giving 110 percent, supporting their teammates, win or lose, and serving as the "heart" of the team, no matter whether they were a star or a seldom-used backup.
Sophomore Bryce Beeler was named the Golden Eagle Award winner of the men's golf team. The second-year man posted a scoring average of 73.11 in three tournaments on the year, playing nine total rounds. He also shot a low round of 71 on the year.
Selected by the Tennessee Tech baseball team as its Golden Eagle Award winner was senior Gavin Johns. In his second year on the Tech squad, Johns ranked third on the team in batting average and led the Ohio Valley Conference with six doubles before the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent cancellation of the remainder of the season.
The Golden Eagle Award for the women's golf team went to sophomore Heidi Lawson. The Kodak, Tenn. native led the purple and gold in scoring average with a mark of 75.88 over six events and 16 rounds. She posted a pair of All-Tournament showings and a season-low round of 71.
For the Tech softball team, it was junior Sydney Love-Baker named as the Golden Eagle Award winner. The infielder ranked third on the team in batting average with a mark of .317 while tying for the team-lead with five home runs in 19 games before the rest of the season was canceled.
Senior Marc Mila was honored as the Golden Eagle Award winner of the tennis team. The veteran showed constant leadership during practice and owning a 1-2 mark in limited action during the season.
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.
