Evans, Kuczynski win basketball awards

Schuylkill Haven’s Albie Evans, and Tamaqua’s Emma Kuczynski were the recipients of the 6th Annual Mickey Holland/Babe Conroy Schuylkill League basketball awards. The awards are sponsored by Integrated Surgical Specialists (Drs. Mark Brayford, Jason Phillips, Jared Cicero, Timothy Gill and Nathan Tiedken) and given to one boys basketball player and one girls basketball player in the league. The boys’ award is named after legendary Mahanoy Area coach Mickey Holland, while the girls’ award is named after William “Babe” Conroy, the former sports editor of the Shenandoah Evening Herald and Hazleton Standard-Speaker, and the former baseball coach at Shenandoah Valley. The criteria for selection includes leadership, toughness and tenacity, academics (minimum 3.0 GPA), overall play and sportsmanship. This year’s awards presentation was held at Fighter’s Heaven, the former training camp for the late boxer Muhammad Ali. Taking part in the presentation were, from left, Kuczysnki, Tamaqua girls basketball coach Erika Davis, Holland, and Evans.