Photo Courtesy of Tulane Athletics
Kody Hoese, the star third baseman for the Tulane University baseball team, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Male Amateur Athlete of the Year for 2018-19. The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects Amateur Athletes of the Month and each year’s Hall of Fame class.
Hoese, Tulane’s star third baseman, finished the 2019 season leading the Green Wave with a .391 batting average, producing 92 hits with 61 RBI and 72 runs scored. The Indiana product slugged .779 to go with a .486 on-base percentage as he started all 58 games for the team. He was named the 2019 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and to the All-American Athletic Conference first team. Hoese’s name is littered throughout the Tulane record book, as he ranks fourth in slugging percentage, tied for second all-time in a single season with 23 home runs and fourth with 183 total bases. Within the conference the home runs, total bases, slugging percentage and 72 runs scored are all AAC records. He was drafted in the first round (25th overall) of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month – the honors enter their 65th year in 2021. To be eligible, an athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region.
