Pride of Boys and Girls
Players earned their way into the recent Major League Baseball All-Star game in San Francisco with their hitting, fielding and pitching.
But another team also was represented at the game, a smaller one with a member from Spokane. Those team members also were selected because of their pitching prowess – pitching in to help their communities be a better place.
Daniel Anderson, who will be a senior at Rogers High School, was selected by Major League Baseball to receive the first STAR award for the Pacific Region of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
The STAR award program recognizes youths for demonstrating sportsmanship, team spirit, achievement and responsibility
Anderson, a 17-year-old three-sport athlete, competed against 280 kids from Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii for the award.
Anderson was one of six STAR award winners who attended the game.
Anderson was selected for his involvement in school athletics, volunteer service and longtime involvement in the local Boys and Girls Club.
Anderson, an original member of the Spokane club, now has an opportunity to be selected to attend the World Series this fall.
“Daniel is an amazing young man who has overcome many obstacles. No one deserves this award more than him,” said Ryan Davenport, the club’s executive director.
“Daniel has had to work extremely hard in sports to get to where he is today,” Davenport said. “It did not just come naturally. He has put in a great amount of time and energy to be successful.”
Anderson also put a lot of effort into the application process. “There were a whole bunch of essay questions,” he said.
So, what made Anderson stand out among nearly 300 of his peers?
“I’m amazing,” he said in his best self-deprecating manner with an ear-to-ear grin.
But supporters such as Davenport quickly vouch for what Anderson brings to the kids in the Boys and Girls Club.
“Daniel is the essential big brother,” said Davenport. “Whether it’s a sports program, a club, volunteering, he’s just a great role model for other kids.”
Anderson says he has been going to the Boys and Girls Club since it opened. “It’s just changed my life a lot. I just try to help in any way I can.”
Anderson’s father left the family when Daniel was only 2 years old.
“I wasn’t always the best kid, so honestly, they (the club) helped me get rid of bad habits I had picked up before I started coming here,” he said.
“I don’t know where I’d be now” without the club.
Even though Anderson’s sports of choice do not include baseball – he’s a linebacker and offensive lineman in football, hurl the shot and throws the discus in track and plays center on his basketball team – he lived the game for at least 12 hours during his All-Star game visit.
“We got to go into locker rooms, go on the field before and after the games,” Anderson said. The youths were front and center for the celebrity and legends games, the home run derby and more.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of America is the official charity of Major League Baseball, and STAR team members met recent Hall of Fame inductee Cal Ripken, who conducted a leadership seminar.
Anderson was accompanied to the All-Star game by Ryan Rodriguez, program director at the local club. Anderson’s leadership qualities were never more evident than during his time in the Bay Area.
It was what Anderson showed during the red-carpet ceremony, Rodriguez said, that “made me most proud.” As players came along to sign autographs, Anderson gave up his place along the rope and helped make sure other kids got autographs, Rodriguez said.
“Daniel was kind of the big brother to all the other kids. He was the oldest one there,” said Rodriguez.
“He took the leadership initiative. He helped the small kids get autographs while he stayed in the back.”
Anderson didn’t go away without rewards, however; he got autographed baseballs from Curt Schilling, Derek Jeter and Barry Bonds.
Following his senior year at Rogers, Anderson has his eyes on a college degree in engineering. He says he hopes to attend Washington State University and use a scholarship he earned in 2005 from the Boys and Girls Club.
Wherever he goes to college, Anderson will leave behind huge shoes to fill, both literally with his size 13s and figuratively with the stature he has earned at the local Boys and Girls Club.
“He’s been coming here since the day the doors opened,” Davenport said of Anderson. “This has been a second home for him.”
Davenport says he’s confident “the next Daniel” will be pretty easy to find.
“Other kids follow because of him,” Davenport said. “They want to be like him.”