Dustin Pedroia might be missing the All-Star Game, but the Red Sox will have an honorary sixth man in St. Louis on Tuesday.
Rob Dixon is one of People Magazine’s five
finalists for the 2009 “All-Star Among Us” award, and will be honored
at Busch Stadium in front of a worldwide television-viewing audience.
Dixon runs Project RISE
(Respect, Integrity and Success through Education), a nonprofit
organization that provides an academic summer camp for at-risk
African-American children from Boston. The program yields an
outstanding 96 percent high school graduation rate, and has helped over
170 individuals attend four-year colleges.
“I am deeply honored to be a finalist for this very prestigious
award,” Dixon said in a statement released by Project RISE. “When I
started Project RISE 14 years ago, I never would have imagined the
potential of being honored at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
I am even more excited about the national exposure Project RISE will
have, which in turn will allow us to increase the number of children’s
lives we can have an impact on.”
Dixon, a Dorchester, Mass., native, was chosen from thousands of
candidates as one of three Boston market finalists in the “All-Star
Among Us” contest. Nearly three quarters of a million votes were cast at PeopleAllStars.com
by fans across the nation to select the 30 “All-Stars Among Us” winners
(one per major league club). Now Dixon is one of the final five.
The five “All-Star Among Us” finalists will be honored by the five living U.S. Presidents (Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter)
in a video salute before the Midsummer Classic — the first time all
living presidents will take part in a sporting event ceremony.
Dixon, who played basketball at the University of New Hampshire from
1979-83 and is the Wildcats’ second all-time leading scorer with 1,590
points, will be highlighted in the video by former President George W.
Bush.
“The All-Stars Among Us winners are making a significant impact in
their communities with a selfless dedication to very important causes,”
MLB commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. “Major League Baseball
is proud to honor this impressive group of people whose achievements
demonstrate the renewed sense of community service that will make our
nation an example for the world.”
The “All-Star Among Us” program recognizes individuals who are
serving their communities in extraordinary ways. It is central to the
2009 MLB All-Star summer program dedicated to charitable initiatives
and recognition of the important role of community service.
The winning “All-Star Among Us” will be featured in People Magazine this week.
