Max Schneider Awarded Sports Journalism Scholarship From TRA by Press Release|09.07.2016|3:58pm Vanderbilt graduates and famed sportswriters Fred Russell (left) and Grantland Rice Max Schneider will enter the freshman class at Vanderbilt University as the 2016 recipient of the 58th Fred Russell-Grantland Rice TRA Scholarship for sports journalism, it was announced Wednesday by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations (TRA). Schneider, who graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York, NY, was selected from a record 621 applicants for this year's scholarship in the amount of $25,000 per year for four years at Vanderbilt. Named in honor of two legendary sports writing alumni of Vanderbilt, the scholarship has an extraordinary record of producing prominent and successful writers and television personalities, including Roy Blount, Jr., Bill Livingston, Skip Bayless, John (Joe Bob Briggs) Bloom, David Sheinin, Tyler Kepner, Lee Jenkins, and Daniel Wolken. Schneider played junior varsity and varsity baseball for the Stuyvesant Peglegs and received MVP recognition as a freshman, the Coach's Award as a junior and was team captain as a senior. He also led the JV basketball team in scoring. He also served as an umpire for the Greenwich Village Little League and worked all divisions of the league. He was the youngest intern selected to work during the summer of 2015 at The Players' Tribune, a media platform founded by Derek Jeter where professional athletes write first-person narratives in order to provide insight into the realities of the sport world. Additionally, he was a sports writer for The Spectator, Stuyvesant's award-winning newspaper. During the summer of 2015, he participated in the Sports Entrepreneurship Program at the Kogod School of Business at American University and was a counselor and baseball specialist at Camp Weequahic in 2016. He plans to major in communication studies at Vanderbilt and hopes to pursue a career in sports media/sports agency. The scholarship winners, selected by a panel chaired by Oaklawn Park President Charles J. Cella, have distinguished themselves not just in sports writing and broadcasting, but in other fields as well. The scholarship honors Vanderbilt alumni Grantland Rice and Fred Russell, two of the greatest sports writers of all time. Initially, the scholarship was created in 1956 to honor Grantland Rice, the dean of American sports writing, who died in 1954. The scholarship received a funding endowment from Mr. Cella on behalf of the TRA in 1986, and its name was amended to include the late Fred Russell, the famed Nashville Banner sports columnist for 69 years and a mentor to many of the scholarship winners. The four-year scholarship is co-sponsored by Vanderbilt University and the TRA and is awarded to an outstanding high school senior with special interest and potential in the field of sports writing. The TRA represents 44 member racing associations conducting Thoroughbred racing at 40 racetracks in North America. Fred Russell-Grantland Rice TRA Sports Journalism Scholarship Winners: Year Recipient 1956 Charles D. Nord 1957 Thomas E. Templin 1958 Larry G. Daughtrey 1959 Roy Blount Jr. 1960 Saxon Kim Chapin 1961 Thomas D. Quinn 1962 Robert E. Theil 1963 Richard S. Osborne 1964 Leonard Goldstein 1965 Michael Kiernan 1966 William Livingston 1967 Barry M. Morris 1968 Dennis P. McAuliffe 1969 David R. Rapp 1970 Skip Bayless 1971 John I. Bloom 1972 Irving Muchnik 1973 Kevin E. Cuneo 1974 Kevin McDonald 1975 David Brooks 1976 Michael L. Jackson 1977 Edward O. Wilson 1979 Kenneth C. Ray 1980 Zachary V. Wenger 1980 Andrew Byer 1981 Charles R. Bush 1982 Mike Cornwell 1983 Tena Bozicevic Herlihy 1984 Thomas J. Wilson 1984 Chuck Manson 1985 Paul J. Richman 1986 Michael Holmes 1987 David Sheinin 1988 Andrew Maraniss 1989 Mitchell Light 1990 Clay Hensley 1991 Matthew O'Keefe 1992 Andrew M. Derr 1993 Tyler Kepner 1994 Allan L. Owen 1995 Lee Jenkins 1996 Not Awarded 1997 Daniel J. Wolken 1998 Samuel H. Heide 1999 Jeffrey D. Lowe 2000 Matthew James Meenan 2001 Robert Craig Murray III 2002 Byron Patrick Dubow 2003 Matthew Collins McDavid 2004 Christopher F. Callaway 2005 Not Awarded 2006 Not Awarded 2007 David A. Namm 2008 Meghan Rose 2009 Eric Single 2010 Jack Kuhlenschmidt 2010 Jackson Martin 2011 Matthew Citak 2011 Anthony Tripodoro 2012 Adam Birnbaum 2012 Benjamin Weinrib 2012 Nathaniel Heagney 2013 Thomas McGrath 2013 Caroline Meisel 2014 William Huesken 2015 Cutler Klein 2016 Max Schneider