Major League Baseball announced that Rickie Weeks was named the Milwaukee Brewers' 2012 nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award.
Monday marked the eleventh annual Roberto Clemente Day, which was established by Major League Baseball to honor Clemente's legacy and to officially recognize local club nominees of the Roberto Clemente Award.
Weeks is one of the 30 club finalists for the annual award, which recognizes a Major League Baseball player who best represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement.
The Roberto Clemente Award pays tribute to Clemente's achievements and character by recognizing current players who truly understand the value of helping others. The award is named for the 15-time MLB All-Star and Hall of Famer who died in a plane crash on New Year's Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
Each season, Weeks makes financial contributions to Brewers Community Foundation, the official charity of the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, to support activities and programs targeted to youth recreation, scholarships and education throughout Wisconsin.
This summer, he hosted the Team Smile dental clinic that took place at Miller Park, which provided free dental care for 200 children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. He also made monetary contributions to the YMCA in support of their swimming program, which teaches central city kids how to swim.
Weeks has partnered with Brewers Community Foundation to serve as a sponsor for the 2012-13 "Teach for America, Sponsor-A-Teacher" initiative in Milwaukee. In addition, he sponsored the production of the play, "Jackie Robinson Story," which will debut in 2013 by Children's First Stage Theater Company.
Since 2008, Weeks has financially supported the Rickie's Rookies Ticket Program, which provides hundreds of game tickets and t-shirts to youth groups and organizations throughout Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
Weeks has also supported the American Diabetes Association, the Beckum-Stapleton Little League and the 2011 Fatherhood Initiative Trip where he hosted fathers and their children on a one-day trip to St. Louis for a ballgame, among other charitable events.
On Saturday, Sept. 29, Rickie will be recognized as the Brewers' 2012 Roberto Clemente Award nominee in a pregame ceremony at Miller Park.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
