Princeton held its awards banquet in the lobby of Jadwin Gym tonight.
The worthy recipients of honors at the 2010-2011 banquet included:
Class of 1959 Bob Rock Sixth Man Award - Kareem Maddox.
B.F. Bunn Trophy - Dan Mavraides & Kareem Maddox.
Friedman Memorial Award Trophy - Dan Mavraides.
It was the second straight year that Maddox took home the Bob Rock Award and the second straight year where Mavraides heard his name called for the Friedman Award.
All three seniors gave excellent speeches full of genuine laughs and honest emotion as they recalled the journey from a 6-23 freshman season to the 2011 Ivy title.
I was personally extremely honored to be thanked by each of these guys. That's worth saying publicly.
A signed photograph from roughly two seconds after Douglas Davis' shot ended the Ivy League playoff was presented for each graduating player.
Every member of the 2010-11 team received a NCAA Tournament watch and an Ivy League Champions t-shirt.
The mini cheesecake for each attendee's meal was topped with a Nestle Crunch bar as a final honor for Christian "Crunch" Regulski. The entire Regulski family was in the building and received several long moments of applause.
Arriving later than planned after Gary Walters had started to open the night with some remarks, former Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson and his wife Jennifer were surprise guests and the assembled rose to give them a standing ovation as Johnson doled out 16 hugs for his former players.
Johnson, Tony Newsom and Martin Bahar were all present along with Georgetown assistant Scott Greenman - who spent three seasons coaching Maddox, Mavraides and Bobby Foley as Tigers.
It was Jennifer Johnson who closed the evening with her husband by her side thanking the team and the players for allowing them to be part of this season. My eyes teared and I wasn't alone.
As an off the clock guest who wasn't wearing his reporting hat on Tuesday night I've shared more than I planned, but it remains an honor to attend this event, one of my favorite evenings of the year.
Jon
