The Durham Sports Club Scholar-Athlete Awards Night was established to honor the top scholar-athletes in Durham’s high schools. The Athletic Director of each public and qualifying private high schools nominates one senior male and one senior female for these awards.
All of the nominees, along with their parents and Athletic Director are honored at a special lunch banquet. At that time, the Club presents each school’s Athletic Director with a donation for their athletic departments, and the scholarship recipients are named. This year, the Durham Sports Club awarded $71,000 of scholarships.
Beginning in 2011, the top scholarship that one boy and one girl receive were “named” to honor Mildred Barnes and Harold Strawbridge, two people that have made significant contributions to the establishment of the Durham Sports Club Scholarship Foundation. 2026’s winner of the “Mildred Barnes Scholar-Athlete Award” for girls was Eliana Mah of Voyager Academy, and the winner of the “Harold Strawbridge Scholar-Athlete Award” for boys was Tate Duensing from Durham Academy.
The next scholarships that one boy and one girl receive are the “Blunt-Bradshaw Sports Legends of Durham,” honoring Willie Bradshaw and Russell Blunt, two legendary contributors to Durham’s sports history. The winner for the boys was Alex Gray from Riverside High School, and for the girls the winner was JJ Thornburg of Jordan High School.
In 2022, the “Tommy Hunt Scholarship” came into being, honoring a citizen of Durham who has made a significant impact on our community, our Durham Sports Club, and on sports. This scholarship was awarded to all the honorees who didn’t receive one of previously mentioned scholarships.
The honorees for 2026 were:
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Special thanks to Preston Mayo for all of the photography
