CORVALLIS, Ore. – Mitch Canham, a catcher on Oregon State’s baseball team, is one of two athletes named as recipients of the 2007 Pacific-10 Conference Sportsmanship Award, Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen announced Monday. The other recipient is Stanford women’s golfer Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana.
The Sportsmanship Award is selected by members of the Pac-10 Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) and is based on good sportsmanship and ethical behavior in participation of intercollegiate athletics, as well as a demonstration of good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Conference award winners are then nominated for the NCAA Division I Sportsmanship Award.
Canham (Lake Stevens, Wash./Lake Stevens HS) is in his third year as OSU’s starting catcher, having helped the Beavers to the 2006 national championship and to Pac-10 titles and College World Series appearances each of the last two seasons. A 2007 preseason second team All-American, he currently leads the team in batting average (.371), home runs (8), runs batted in (34), runs (36), slugging percentage (.645), walks (23) and on-base percentage (.490).
Despite such tragedies in his life including the death of his mother and injuries to his throwing arm, Canham has been a tower of strength for his family, teammates and coaches. Outside of college athletics, he counsels youth about the hazards of drugs, organizes fundraisers for the Special Olympics and local cancer patients, and participates in the Habitat for Humanity program. Canham is a two-time Pac-10 All-Academic selection and a CoSIDA Academic All-District 8 pick majoring in Business Administration.
Also nominated for this year's Pac-10 Sportsmanship Award was Oregon State softball pitcher Ta’Tyana McElroy. Others nominated from around the conference were Ivan Radenovich and Maritza Mora of Arizona; Joseph Persichina of Arizona State; Alex Pribble and Krista Foster of California; the Stanford men's gymnastics team; Ryan Kalil and Shay Murphy of Southern California; Andy Kuharsky and Courtney Thompson of Washington; and Simi Reynolds and Kelly Ramirez of Washington State.
Previous Pac-10 Sportsmanship Award winners include Anna Key of California (2006), who was also named the NCAA Division I Sportsmanship Award winner, Eric Nygard (2006) of Washington State, Channing Frye of Arizona (2005), Cara Chlebicki of California (2005) and Grayling Love of Arizona State (2004).
