Greenway Offers Message of Family, Farm and Hard Work

There was a record turnout last night (Monday) at the 12th annual Rochester Area Sports Banquet at the Mayo Civic Center, hosted by the Rochester Amateur Sports Commission

Chad Greenway KROC AM

Over 700 sports fans showed up to honor the award winners, but I'm thinking the largest turnout ever was because Minnesota Viking linebacker Chad Greenway was the featured speaker.

Chad's message was not about life in the NFL, but all about his upbringing on a farm in Mount Vernon, South Dakota and the work ethic he learned from his parents that led to his success in sports.

Some other notes from his message..Don't play for yourself and your own success, play for your team's success.

When asked if he was going to play next year, he said he's not made up his mind yet but if he does, it will be with the Minnesota Vikings. That drew a large applause.

He feels it's important for kids to play more than one sport, not concentrating on just one and if he had a son that wanted to play football, he'd be all for it but not until he was in 7th grade.

Here are the award winners:

Sports Organization of the Year - Rochester Youth Baseball Assn

Lifetime Achievement Award - Gary Addington

Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award - Dale Massey (former Mayo baseball coach)

Team of the Year - Zumbrota-Mazeppa Softball

Coach of the Year - Mike Kesler (Lourdes football coach)

Female Athlete of the Year - Andrianna Jacobs (Century Track/Diving/Gymnastics)

Male Athlete of the Year - Brady Berge (Kasson-Mantorville wrestling)

Adaptive Athlete/Team of the Year - Hanna Hughes (USA Women's sled hockey)