Allstate Sugar Bowl to recognize Killian, Scheuermann at August 10 banquet

Local Pair to be Presented with Jimmy Collins Awards at NOLA Hall of Fame Banquet

NEW ORLEANS – Conner Killian, a graduate of Archbishop Rummel and a current member of the Louisiana Tech track and field program, and Joe Scheuermann, the tremendously successful coach of the Delgado Community College baseball team, will be presented with Jimmy Collins Awards at the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on Saturday, August 10 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. A total of 26 individuals, including this year’s Hall of Fame class, and two teams will be honored at this year’s banquet. All of the honorees are selected by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

While there are many different categories of awards presented by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, some years the committee finds that there are people deserving of recognition who do not necessarily fit into one specific category. For that reason, the Committee presents the Jimmy Collins Awards to outstanding individuals and organizations.

Collins was a longtime New Orleans sportswriter who is credited with creating the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards and forming the awards committee in 1958.

This year the Committee chose to recognize two individuals for exhibiting excellence, but in widely different ways.

Conner Killian, a Metairie product and a graduate of Archbishop Rummel, serves as President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at Louisiana Tech. Killian was the third-best finisher for the Bulldogs at the Conference USA Cross Country Championships; he also competed in the C-USA indoor championship, but suffered an injury during the outdoor season and was confined to a walking boot when a deadly tornado hit Ruston on April 25.

The tornado wreaked havoc on the Louisiana Tech campus and many residential areas, but despite his injury, Killian was a leader in the clean-up effort on the campus and in the community.

“Conner was one of the first students to arrive on the scene after the tornado,” said Louisiana Tech Director of Athletics Tommy McClelland. “He immediately began to remove debris as he organized a small team of other students (mostly student-athletes) to help clean up. Being a forestry major he had a chainsaw and started cutting limbs and removing trees from damaged areas. All of this started within hours of the tornado devastation and continued for many days. Not only has he helped on our campus, but he has gone out into our community into the residential areas and helped as well. He has done all of this while wearing a boot due to an injury sustained while competing as a member of our track and field team. When I think of what a servant looks like, I will now think of Conner.”

“I am truly honored to be receiving the Jimmy Collins Special award,” Killian said ”Louisiana Tech University and Ruston are my home and I will always do everything I can to help the Ruston community, especially in the wake of a disaster.”

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Joe Scheuermann was adding to his tremendous legacy on the baseball field. Delgado’s 10-4 win on April 9 marked the program’s 1000th victory under Scheuermann. Now in his 29th season as the Dolphin’s head coach, Scheuermann became the 30th baseball coach in National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) history to reach the milestone, joining nine active coaches. Scheuermann has a career mark of 1000-490 and he ranks ninth among active coaches in the all-time NJCAA wins category. In addition, in January, Scheuermann was announced as a member of the National Junior College Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019; he was inducted into the Hall in May in Grand Junction, Colo. He is the first college coach in Louisiana to reach the thousand-win mark at the same college and the first junior college baseball coach to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

On learning of his selection to the Hall of Fame, Scheuermann said, “This is a tremendous honor that I share with my family, my coaches and players, and our entire Delgado family. This would have never been possible without the constant support that I have received on and off the field through the years. This is about WE, not just about ME. Thanks to everyone who had a part of my nomination and selection.”

The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month – the honors enter their 62nd year in 2018. To be eligible, an athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 93 Hall of Fame players, 49 Hall of Fame coaches and 18 Heisman Trophy winners in its 84-year history. The 85th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, featuring top teams from the Big 12 and the SEC, will be played on January 1, 2019. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1.6 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors nearly 100,000 student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit www.AllstateSugarBowl.org.