Tascosa's Brayden Keeter receives Randy Keller Fighting Heart Scholarship
When presenting the Randy Keller Fighting Heart Baseball Scholarship on Tuesday night, Lance Lahnert said that while most people wanted to win MVP awards, Randy Keller wanted the Fighting Heart Award.
That was the award that represented character, determination, spirit and far more than just what you could do with your physical play. It was fitting then that this year's recipient was someone who wasn't even supposed to play baseball.
Tascosa's Brady Keeter was named the 41st recipient of the Randy Keller scholarship during a ceremony at Tascosa High School. This year's scholarship was worth $25,000, the most in the award's history.
"It's such a blessing to receive this honor," Keeter said. "When I sat down and interviewed with the committee, they said they wanted someone who had the fighting heart they saw in Randy. To get the phone call that I received this scholarship was just a true blessing coming from the family and people who knew Randy that saw me as having the same fighting heart that he did."
Keeter came into Tascosa as a freshman looking to play basketball. His height and length would make him a natural fit on the hardwood while he watched his older brother do the play on the diamond. On a whim after his freshman season, he emailed Tascosa baseball coach Jason Patrick asking to try out for the team.
Patrick replied and told him to grab a glove and come on down.
Three games into the season, COVID-19 overtook the world, ending Keeter's baseball journey ... until something nagged at him the following year. He asked Patrick again if he could come try out. He did, fell in love with the game and will head to Lamar Community College in Lamar, Colorado, to continue his baseball career.
It's not about how good of a baseball player that the scholarship winner is, though; Keeter is very skilled. The award is about representing the fighting heart that Randy Keller had before he tragically passed away in a car accident in 1992.
"While it may be the largest scholarship that AISD offers, the money has nothing to do with it," Lahnert said during his presentation. "It's not the heartbeat of the Randy Keller scholarship. Every winner knows that they get it done in the classroom, go through life in a positive and passionate way and simply have courage. When you watch them play the game of baseball, you know they have a fighting heart just like Randy's."
Lahnert's statement was also true of Clay Aderholt — a 1995 recipient of the award. Aderholt was a close friend of one of the committee members, Dr. Jave Rush. An Amarillo High graduate, Aderholt passed away in a car accident 10 years ago.
After giving out scholarships to Tascosa's Javen Patrick and Caprock's Roger King last year, the committee decided to give out a second scholarship again this year. This one was worth $20,000, but would be broken into two checks. The recipients? Aderholt's two sons, who are currently in eighth and fifth grade.
"When he got the scholarship it was $5,000," Dr. Rush said. "We as a committee decided that we were going to give him the full $25,000 that it is now by giving $10,000 each to his two kids. ... We just felt as a committee that was the right thing to do."
That money will go toward the college education for the Aderholt's when that time comes. For this year's winner, the enormity of what $25,000 means now is not lost on him.
"I saw my dad go through nursing school with four kids, a family and two jobs," Keeter said. "Knowing that I'm not going to have to struggle to go to work at 5 a.m. before I've got practice or school and knowing that I've got something that's going to help me get through that to get my education and play baseball, it's awesome."
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Tascosa's Brayden Keeter receives Randy Keller Fighting Heart Scholarship
