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Midland RockHounds

Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to Highlight Annual Banquet

January 4, 2017 - Texas League (TL1)
Midland RockHounds News Release


One Ranger, one Cowboy. One played on a diamond, the other on a gridiron. Yet they sent similar messages to the opposition. "Don't run on Pudge" ... "don't throw at Everson."

Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez and Everson Walls will be the featured guest speakers at the 2017 West Texas Sports Banquet & Memorabilia Auction. The annual event is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1, at the Midland Country Club.

The evening also includes the naming of the Scott Seator Community Achievement Award winner, RockHounds and Sockers fans of the year, and special guests from the Texas League and Oakland Athletics.

Sponsorships and tickets are available at the RockHounds corporate offices at Security Bank Ballpark (5514 Champions Drive, Midland) or by calling 432-520-2255.

Ivan Rodriguez

Considered one of the greatest defensive catchers in big league history, Ivan Rodriguez played 21 seasons in the Show, winning a World Series championship with the Florida Marlins in 2003. Pudge, however, spent the majority of his career in a Rangers uniform, playing for Texas from 1992-2001 and again in 2009. He was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame in 2013, and could receive the ultimate "Hall call" literally days before he joins us in West Texas - - Pudge is considered a strong candidate to become a first-ballot selection to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame (inductees will be announced January 18).

Rodriguez' credentials seem to make his selection inevitable, perhaps in his first year of eligibility. Pudge was a 14-time All-Star, an 11-time Gold Glove winner (one more than Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench), a seven-time Silver Slugger Award winner, American League Most Valuable Player (in 1999 with Texas) and the National League Championship Series MVP in 2003 when he helped lead the Marlins to their World Series title.

His path to the Rangers included a stop in the Texas League. He was an All-Star with the Tulsa Drillers (at age 19) in 1992 and made his Major League debut later in that season.

Everson Walls

Just as Pudge did, Everson Walls won a world championship outside of the Lone Star state (he starred on the New York Giants' Super Bowl team in 1991), but reached his initial stardom in Texas. Walls was a four-time Pro Bowler with the Cowboys, playing in Dallas from 1981-89. The native of Richardson, Texas, was signed by his "hometown team" as a free agent, making him a long shot to stick in the NFL, but the former Grambling State star had an immediate impact. He is one of only two players in history to lead the league in interceptions three times (Ed Reed is the other) and led the Cowboys in interceptions on five occasions. He went on to help lead the Giants to the championship in Super Bowl XXV (following the 1990 season). His open-field tackle of Buffalo superstar Thurman Thomas proved to be a critical play, denying an almost certain touchdown. Moments later, Bills kicker Scott Norwood missed the potential game-winning field goal as time expired.

In his college and pro career, Walls played for some of the game's legendary coaches, including Eddie Robinson (Grambling), Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson (Dallas Cowboys), and Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick (New York Giants). Everson's book, A Gift for Ron, details his career on and off the field, including his decision to donate a kidney to Ron Springs, his friend and teammate with the Cowboys.

Scott Seator Community Achievement Award

In addition to "live" and silent auctions of sports and other memorabilia, one of the event's highlights is the presentation of the Scott Seator Community Achievement Award.

Named in honor of the franchise's former Communications Director (Scott passed away from a rare form of cancer in September of 1996), the award recognizes someone who has made outstanding contributions to the Permian Basin community through sports.

2017 Special Guests Also Include...

Tom Kayser Texas League President, 1992-2016

Tim Purpura Texas League President

Aaron Nieckula RockHounds Manager, 2013-14

Ryan Christenson RockHounds Manager, 2015-16

Fran Riordan RockHounds Manager, 2017

Miles Prentice RockHounds Co-Owner

Bob Richmond RockHounds Co-Owner

The 2017 banquet will afford us the opportunity to recognize a group of individuals who have a special place in the histories of of both the Texas League and our franchise.

After serving 25 seasons as league president (the longest tenure in the circuit's more than 125-year history), Tom Kayser has retired and will be succeeded by former Houston Astros general manager Tim Purpura (in fact, the transition officially takes place on February 1, the day of the banquet). Both will be among our honored guests, giving us the chance to say "thanks" to Tom and to welcome the league's new chief executive.

When they captured the 2016 Texas League championship, the RockHounds became the first team in nearly a century to win three consecutive TL titles (the last club to accomplish the feat was the Fort Worth Panthers, 1920-25).

The Oakland Athletics (the RockHounds' Major League affiliate since 1999) will be represented by Aaron Nieckula (who led the 'Hounds to the 2014 championship) Ryan Christenson (who guided the club to back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016) and by Fran Riordan, who has been named the RockHounds field manager for the 2017 Texas League season.

"Nuke" is now in his third season as the A's Minor League Field Coordinator (he also manages the Vermont Lake Monsters, Oakland's affiliate in the short season Single-A New York-Penn League) while Ryan has been named the new manager of the Nashville Sounds, Oakland's (AAA) Pacific Coast League club.

The Event

Since its inception in 1991, the West Texas Sports Banquet & Memorabilia Auction has raised nearly a half-million dollars ($484,000) for children's charities in the Permian Basin.

The event has, for all intents and purposes, been held annually since 1991 (the only exceptions were 2005 and 2011, when the event was rescheduled to coincide with the RockHounds' hosting of the Texas League All-Star Game).

It was among the first collective innovations made by owners Miles Prentice & Bob Richmond and general manager Monty Hoppel after Miles & Bob purchased the franchise.

The 2017 banquet will again benefit the St. Ann's School Athletic Association, Casa de Amigos, the RockHounds Scholarship Fund and the Scott Seator Foundation.

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