Max Schneider Awarded 2016 Russell-Rice TRA Scholarship
ELKTON, MD – 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.
Prior winners of the scholarship were: