Photo Courtesy of John Curtis Athletics.
The John Curtis Christian School baseball team was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Boys’ Prep Team of the Year for 2017-18. 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.
In one of the most dominant season-long performances in recent memory, John Curtis’ baseball program posted a 26-4 regular season record that included a perfect district mark in the highly-regarded Catholic League, sweeping through 14 games. Curtis was 2-2 (both losses were in extra innings) against some of the best in the country in the USA Baseball National High School Invitational Prep Classic at Carey, N.C. Patriot pitchers posted a 1.51 ERA, backed by a .951 fielding percentage. In the 14-game district season, only one team came within one run of the Patriots (Curtis defeated Jesuit, 1-0, in extra innings). Cade Beloso, a senior first baseman, was named Louisiana’s Gatorade Player of the year after batting .489 with 14 home runs.
“I think (this team) stacks up with the best,” Patriots coach Jeff Curtis told The Advocate. “We had so many stepping up. One through nine. Dugout guys. Bench guys. Role players. Starters. It didn’t matter who it was. They came to work every day with a great attitude and worked hard.”
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James 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 64th year in 2020. 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.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 102 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 89-year history. The 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2024. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
