Tom Rife: Winged Foot find a perfect helping hand

Not only are they already well into the behind-the-scenes legwork of their next Winged Foot Scholar-Athlete Award Banquet coming up May 26 at the Registry Resort.

The committee also realizes with two new high schools opening next fall (Golden Gate High and Palmetto Ridge High), the competition among the area's top student-athletes is going to become stiffer than ever.

So, too, will the economics of the program grow more challenging in the spring of 2005.

But first things first.

This year's event will mark the 15th Winged Foot Scholar-Athlete Banquet that singles out the county's most-prized athletic competitors and classroom whizzes. And with the number of previous recipients split 50-50 among the males and females, the committee has come up with an appropriate guest speaker to deliver the keynote address.

At the head of the dais this time around will be Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes, who in 1996 became the first African-American woman to win an individual medal in her sport.

Joe Carraher of the Winged Foot Committee says Dawes' participation should be inspiring to all who attend, especially the female candidates. He and his fellow committee members think Dawes' appearance will provide an overdue change of pace from the male-dominated list of sports figureheads who have decorated the head table in the past.

Dawes' well-documented success in gymnastics — the 37-year-old from Silver Spring, Md., got started in the sport in 1983 — not only landed her on the Wheaties box. She later went on to appear in the Broadway hit Grease, in the Disney television show The Jersey and in Prince's music video Betcha By Golly Wow.

The big question is, who will wow the audience this year?

Last May, it was Barron Collier softball/volleyball standout and student-body leader Alyssa Van Gemert who became the seventh female recipient of the prestigious Winged Foot recognition. She presently is attending the University of Florida.

Each local high school soon will begin the process of getting Winged Foot applications into the hands of its most qualified candidates. The individual schools will choose their respective finalists and then it will be up to the Winged Foot Selection Committee to pore over the applications, meet the candidates in person, listen to their responses in informal interviews and arrive at what is always a hair-splitting decision.

The spoils don't just go to the winner, who now receives a scholarship worth $10,000 ($2,500 a year for four years).

Each finalist is guaranteed a one-time stipend of $3,000.

With 10 schools in the fold starting next year, the committee's labor of love will be magnified in all respects.

As always, the rewards will be priceless.

You can e-mail sports editor Tom Rife at tdrife@naplesnews.com.