Tri-County Coach of the Year banquet postponed
For the first time in nearly 70 years, the Tri-County Coach of the Year banquet is in danger of not being held.
The Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association, which runs the banquet, was forced to postpone this year’s event because of the onset of the coronavirus.
The banquet, which honors and recognizes the athletic achievements of athletes and coaches in the Tri-County area, has been a mainstay in Washington County since 1955, when the first coach was honored.
The Tri-CADA made the decision to postpone the banquet during a teleconference call on March 30.
The banquet, which is held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Southpointe, was scheduled for Sunday, April 25.
Laura Grimm, athletic director at Ringgold High School and the president of Tri-CADA, said a decision to cancel the banquet could come any time in the next two weeks.
“We discussed with the hotel when the last day would be that we could cancel without penalty, and they said the Sunday of Easter,” said Grimm. “We wanted to wait until we got a little closer to Easter just to see if we would get further information from the state or the PIAA. Obviously, if they cancel the rest of school, then we would just double up the honorees next year at the banquet.”
Last year, the banquet recognized 66 honorees, presented the Sports Headliner award and the Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association revealed its eight scholarship award winners.
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of organizing the banquet,” Grimm said. “If it can be held, we’ll just pick up where we left off. We’ve done a pretty good job of proceeding with the sponsors and proceeding with the people. If we cancel, then we can just apply that sponsorship to next year and do it with a lot of other things, too.”
Grimm said the organization felt the banquet could still proceed if President Trump’s stay-at-home order was lifted for Easter, which falls two weeks prior to the banquet, but that has changed as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf extended the stay-at-home order through the end of April.
All proceeds from the banquet support Special Olympics.