RICHFIELD, Utah-Tuesday, the Mid-Utah Radio Sports Award Show occurred at the Sevier County Fairgrounds, honoring prestigious individuals in the Mid-Utah Radio Sports Network coverage area.
The following five honors were bestowed.
Male Athlete of the Year
Juab High School football/boys basketball/baseball star Austin Park
Female Athlete of the Year
North Sevier girls volleyball/basketball/track and field star Cale Torgerson
Coach of the Year
Richfield High School football coach Eric Thorson
School of the Year
Panguitch High School. This season, the Bobcats won 1A state championships in boys basketball, girls basketball, girls cross country, boys track and field, girls volleyball and boys wrestling.
John Yardley Impact Award
Ryan Shaddix, an assistant football coach at Richfield High School and a former head coach for the Wildcats. Shaddix is a pastor at Calvary Chapel Sevier Valley of Richfield and has a sterling reputation throughout the area for serving the community and mentoring young people. Shaddix suffered affliction in his youth but has rectified the circumstances for disadvantaged adolescents in the Richfield area. Per his LinkedIn page, Shaddix is also a special ed teacher in English Language Arts at Richfield High School and is the director of Sevier Valley Youth Refuge and Refuge Thrift Store, located near Calvary Chapel Sevier Valley in downtown Richfield. Shaddix is a graduate of what is now known as Utah Tech University. Shaddix and his wife first came to the Richfield area in 2014 while living in the Phoenix area. He observed youths doing donuts with a rope in the KMart (now U-Haul) parking lot and surmised they didn’t have much to do. This led to their joint decision to come to the Richfield area and serve young people which they have done since their arrival in the Sevier Valley. Shaddix’s children remarked that he looks like the mayor of Richfield when he walks to school as he smiles and waves at passersby.
The event began with remarks from Brian Barton, the CEO of Jones and DeMille Engineering of Richfield, in which he encouraged those athletes being with honored to continue their zeal for life as their athletics careers draw to a close.
