YES Network's Ken Singleton to Receive Denzel Lifetime Achievement Award At Boys & Girls Club Gala

Dec. 15, 2011 - PRLog -- YES Network Yankees announcer and three-time Major League Baseball All-Star Ken Singleton will be honored with the “Denzel Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports” at the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon’s 100th Anniversary Gala at the Rye Town Hilton (Rye Brook, Westchester County, New York) on Saturday night, March 24, 2012.  Award-winning actor Denzel Washington will make the presentation. Washington, the host for the benefit, and Singleton are both Mount Vernon products and distinguished alumni of the Boys & Girls Club.

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Singleton is in his 10th season as a New York Yankees analyst for the YES Network alongside Michael Kay, and also handles play-by-play duties for the network.

“We are delighted to honor Ken Singleton at our 100th Anniversary Gala,” said Boys & Girls Club President Danny Sawh, and Executive Director Lowes Moore in a joint statement. “His outstanding career on the baseball diamond and in the broadcast booth have distinguished him as a true champion. The Boys & Girls Club of Mt. Vernon has been a bulwark against delinquency and a recreational outlet for youngsters for a century, and we hope today’s youngsters will follow in his giant footsteps.”  

Raised in Mount Vernon, Singleton played both baseball and basketball in high school, and also played baseball in the Bronx Federation League at Macombs Dam Park, across the street from Yankee Stadium. After receiving a basketball scholarship to Hofstra University and playing baseball as well for one year, Singleton was drafted by the Mets in 1967.

In April 1972, he was traded to the Expos and, in 1974, was traded to the Orioles. His .438 on base percentage (in 1977), 118 walks (in 1975) and 35 switch-hit home runs (in 1979) are all still Orioles single season records.

Singleton is one of only six players in Major League Baseball history to hit 35 or more switch-hit homers in a season. During his career, Singleton was named to the American League All- Star Team in 1977, '79 and '81. He was named Most Valuable Oriole in 1975, '77 and '79.

Singleton received the Roberto Clemente Award from Major League Baseball -- the highest off-the-field honor in baseball -- in 1982. The award recognizes the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team.

He retired after the 1984 season as a three-time All-Star with a 1983 World Championship ring.

Before joining YES, Singleton divided his time calling play-by-play and providing commentary on Yankees telecasts on the MSG Network. In 1998, he was part of MSG's production team that won four New York Emmys for its Yankees coverage.

Singleton joined the MSG Network in 1997 from The Sports Network (TSN), where he served as analyst for the Montreal Expos from 1985 to 1996. From 1991-96, he also called play-by-play and served as analyst for CIQC Radio, the Expos' flagship radio network. In 1996 and 1997, he was named by FOX Sports as a lead analyst for Saturday afternoon baseball broadcasts. In 1997 and 1998, he worked as an analyst for Major League Baseball International.

About Denzel Washington
Washington is a two-time Emmy Award, two-time Golden Globe Award and Tony Award recipient With encouragement and lessons learned from the Boys & Girls Club, Washington overcame the tough streets to ultimately attend Fordham University in the Bronx, where he gained a roster spot on the freshman basketball team under P.J. Carlesimo, and earned his B.A. in Drama and Journalist at Fordham at Lincoln Center, and then embarked on a four-decade acting career that has been one for the ages.
Washington has said that he still applies the same principles in his acting career that he learned when he was a third-grader in the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon. He teamed with director Ron Howard for a public service announcement that shows how the club has impacted his life along with 20 other celebrities and entertainers, who were once members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Denzel’s career came to prominence on the hit television medical show St. Elsewhere; he received two Academy Awards for Training Day and Glory, and his recent Tony Award for the Broadway hit Fences. In riveting portrayals, Washington has played such true-life characters as Malcolm X, boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, Steve Biko,  Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas, and Herman Boone. He starred in the blockbuster Disney film Remember the Titans which grossed over $100 million in the U.S. box office alone.

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The vision of the Boys & Girls Club of Mt. Vernon is to be the pre-eminent youth-serving organization in the City, developing the whole child, spiritually, mentally, physically and culturally.