The Russ Snyder Memorial Scholarship would hand out it’s final scholarship and bats after 25 years on Tuesday’s Post 8 doubleheader giving the scholarship to Dawson Getz and a bat to each member of the baseball team.
The Russ Snyder Memorial scholarship was established in 2000 when the late Doctor Jim Trimble organized an effort to honor Russ’s memory after his untimely passing. Dr. Trimble brought together Russ’s former Post 8 teammates from the 1974 and 75 legion teams, along with a good number of other friends and classmates, who provided annual contributions to the scholarship fund. Without their dedication and commitment, it wouldn’t have been possible.
Over the years, each senior on the team received a memorial baseball bat to commemorate their accomplishments in Post 8 and the fund provides for a scholarship to a player to assist them in their educational pursuits after high school. Overall, the effort has resulted in $30,750 in scholarships being awarded and $5,325 in commemorative bats. The first scholarship awarded in 2000 was for $350 and continued to grow with this year’s scholarship amount being $1750, the largest ever.
Snyder was an all around athlete in Pierre. He was a football, basketball and track star for the Pierre Governors and was a standout baseball player for Post 8, which was his favorite sport. He went on to play collegiate baseball at the University of South Dakota where he was a four year starter and was named all conference in his junior and senior seasons.
Jeff Holden, who took over as the lead for the memorial scholarship after Dr. Trimble’s passing, says it continued to grow every year…
Dan Snyder says 25 years is a fitting spot to hit and end the memorial scholarship but leaves the door open for something like this to continue…
Snyder says the bat idea came from Derk Campbell…
Both Holden and Snyder are happy to hit the 25 year mark, but also melancholy about it ending…
Getz and every player, not a super senior, because they received a bat last year, were awarded a commemorative bat to close out the final year of the scholarship.
Photo Courtesy of Tom Plooster and Plooster Photography.
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