Tucson Youth Football and Spirit Federation honors local athletes

On Sunday, hundreds of Southern Arizona youth traded in their helmets and pompoms for collared shirts and party dresses, ready to dine in style at Casino del Sol.

Nearly 600 athletes and family members from the Tucson Youth Football and Spirit Federation celebrated in the ballroom during the league’s annual scholars luncheon, honoring the group’s best and brightest.

For more than 30 years, the federation has been offering financial scholarships to athletes who exemplify the organization’s values off the field through academic achievement and community service.

The Kay Oaks Scholarship Program, named for a longtime federation executive board member who passed away several years ago, honored roughly 150 of the organization’s top scholars Sunday, with cash prizes doled out for the top two winners in each age group.

“We want to let kids know there’s more to sports than what happens on the field. ... You’ve also got to have the academic side in place,” Commissioner Julius Holt said to the crowd before the awards were handed out.

Holt is finishing up his first year as commissioner, overseeing thousands of kids ages 5 through 13 who make up dozens of flag, tackle and cheer teams within the league.

“I’m trying to bring back that family touch,” Holt said. “We have 15 associations, but today we’re one big family.”

Keynote speaker and former Arizona Wildcats football player Jay Dobyns told the crowd that the lessons TYFSF athletes learn from their coaches translate to life skills off the field, saying, “The things we learn in football are bigger than football.”

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Roughly 150 of the leagues top scholars took the stage next, with winners split up by grades, from second to eighth. Each age group had between 10 and 15 finalists, with first- and second-place winners in each group receiving checks for $100 and $50, respectively.

Sunday’s scholarship recipients are as follows:

First place: Zamarah Gonzalez, Vika Herington, Michaela Altman, Rylan Martin, Serena Monroy, Anthony Sanchez, Alyssa Seehaver, Marcus Devoy, Makenzie Lappin, Amaya Trujillo, Jenna Strizver, Jorge “J.R.” Hernandez, Cianna Rios and Joaquin Vasquez.

Second place: Kensington Hagele, William Hann, Tathiana Guerrero, Brayden Sarnocinski-Kaplan, Lahna Montana, Kole Harvey, Serenity Caldwell, Noah Chanez, Aimee Lloyd, Gabriel Pratoomratana, Lyndsey Mada, Colby Harris, Mya Rosas and Tyler Mustain.

The two winners of the eighth-grade essay contest, Mya Rosas and Dakota Munoz, each won $1,000 for their papers about how student-athletes can affect school safety.

The federation also honored former UA tight end and Mountain View High coach Clarence “Bam” McRae with its volunteer of the year award during Sunday’s ceremony.

The league’s 2018 Hall of Fame inductee honor went to longtime federation participant Tim Kanavel, who previously served as president of the Marana Broncos and is already a member of the American Youth Football Hall of Fame.