Two New Yorkers Receive TRA Scholarships

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Matthew Citak and Anthony Tripodoro, entering freshman at Vanderbilt University, have been selected as the 2011 co-recipients of the 53rd Fred Russell-Grantland Rice TRA Scholarship for sports writing, according to a release from the Thoroughbred Racing Associations.

Citak and Tripodoro were selected from 109 applicants for this year’s scholarship in the amount of $20,000 per year for four years each at Vanderbilt. The scholarship is co-sponsored by Vanderbilt University and the TRA and is awarded to an outstanding high school senior with special interest and potential in the field of sports writing. The TRA represents 48 member racing associations conducting Thoroughbred racing at 41 racetracks in North America. The scholarship winners weere selected by a panel chaired by Oaklawn Park President Charles J. Cella.

The scholarship honors Vanderbilt alumni and distinguished sports writers Grantland Rice and Fred Russell. Initially, the scholarship was created in 1956 to honor Grantland Rice, the dean of American sports writing, who died in 1954. The scholarship received a funding endowment from Cella on behalf of the TRA in 1986, and its name was amended to include the late Fred Russell, the famed Nashville Banner sports columnist for 69 years.

Citak is a graduate of Horace Mann School in Riverdale, N.Y., where he served as the sports editor and writer for the school publication, Manhattan Review, along with being the editor of The Score, a school sports magazine. He played junior varsity soccer as a freshman in high school, moving up to varsity in his final three years, and was starting goalkeeper during his junior and senior years. He was named to the New York Post All Bronx Soccer Team and the All Ivy League Soccer Team in 2010 as well as receiving the Horace Mann Coach’s Award. He will be a communications major at Vanderbilt and hopes to pursue a career in sports broadcasting or sports journalism.

Tripodoro, a graduate of Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y., was heavily involved in his school’s newspaper, Tarmac, serving as managing editor and sports editor before being named editor-in-chief as a senior. In addition to being on the Honor Roll all four years in high school, he was one of only seven finalists for the National Merit Scholarship from Chaminade.

He is interested in many subjects, including English, journalism, psychology, sociology and history, but hopes to focus on economics as his target area of study. His goal is to work as an attorney, journalist, or in the financial industry.

Fred Russell-Grantland Rice TRA Sports Writing Scholarship Winners
 
Year                Recipient                                            
 
1956                Charles D. Nord
1957                Thomas E. Templin
1958                Larry G. Daughtrey
1959                Roy Blount Jr.
1960                Saxon Kim Chapin
1961                Thomas D. Quinn
1962                Robert E. Theil
1963                Richard S. Osborne
1964                Leonard Goldstein
1965                Michael Kiernan
1966                William Livingston
1967                Barry M. Morris
1968                Dennis P. McAuliffe
1969                David R. Rapp
1970                Skip Bayless
1971                John I. Bloom
1972                Irving Muchnik           
1973                Kevin E. Cuneo
1974                Kevin McDonald
1975                David Brooks
1976                Michael L. Jackson
1977                Edward O. Wilson
1978                Charles C. Euchner
1979                Kenneth C. Ray
1980                Zachary V. Wenger
1980                Andrew Byer
1981                Charles R. Bush
1982                Mike Cornwell
1983                Tena Bozicevic Herlihy
1984                Thomas J. Wilson
1984                Chuck Manson
1985                Paul J. Richman
1986                Michael Holmes
1987                David Sheinin
1988                Andrew Maraniss
1989                Mitchell Light
1990                Clay Hensley
1991                Matthew O’Keefe
1992                Andrew M. Derr
1993                Tyler Kepner
1994                Allan L. Owen
1995                Lee Jenkins
1996                Not Awarded
1997                Daniel J. Wolken
1998                Samuel H. Heide
1999                Jeffrey D. Lowe
2000                Matthew James Meenan
2001                Robert Craig Murray III
2002                Byron Patrick Dubow
2003                Matthew Collins McDavid
2004                Christopher F. Callaway
2005                Not Awarded
2006                Not Awarded
2007                David A. Namm
2008                Meghan Rose
2009                Eric Single
2010                Jack Kuhlenschmidt
2010                Jackson Martin
2011                Matthew Citak
2011                Anthony Tripodoro
 

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