At its 17th annual Rye Scholar-Athlete Award Dinner June 8 at The Osborn, The Rye City Lions Club honored the nine graduating Rye High seniors who earned Athlete of the Month distinction during the school year.

By Mitch Silver

At its 17th annual Rye Scholar-Athlete Award Dinner June 8 at The Osborn, The Rye City Lions Club honored the nine graduating Rye High seniors who earned Athlete of the Month distinction during the school year.

Seated with their parents were Andrew Livingston (football); Charlotte Tucci (soccer); Brenna Smith (field hockey); Patrick MacAulay (swimming); Drew Abate (basketball); Frida Henningsson (skiing); Ryan Bird (indoor track); Tim DeGraw (baseball); and Maggie McDermott (spring track).

Each of the monthly winners was chosen by the Rye High Athletic Department for achievement in the classroom, on the athletic field, and within the community. Then the Lions Club handed out ballots to Rye High students, who voted for the Athlete of the Year. After tabulating over 300 votes, Lions Club President Greg Faughnan and Secretary/Treasurer Dave Heller announced the winner: Andrew Livingston, Rye’s all-time passing record-setter.

The Brown-bound Livingston was gracious in victory. “It’s always wonderful to be honored, but it means a little more when it comes from your peers.” Rye Athletic Director Rob Castagna had this to say about the red-headed quarterback: “I think Andrew won because his is the kind of humble leadership that doesn’t seek the spotlight … though somehow it always seems to find him.”

The athletes heard a keynote speech by Sacred Heart University pitching coach Wayne Mazzoni in which he urged his listeners to live a just life today. To make his point, he recited the poem “Tomorrow” by Edgar Guest. It opens with the lines, “He was going to be all a mortal should be…tomorrow/No one should be kinder or braver than he…tomorrow” and closes with, “But the fact is he died and faded from view/And all that he left here when living was through/Was a mountain of things he intended to do…tomorrow.”

The evening ended with a special Lions Club tribute to outgoing Rye Athletic Director Castagna for “outstanding dedication and contribution to the student athletics and the City of Rye community.”