MLB announces A's' 'Tribute for Heroes' honoree
Major League Baseball and PEOPLE magazine announced this week the 30 winners of the "Tribute for Heroes" campaign, a national initiative recognizing veterans and military service members. Corbin Cherry of Hertford, N.C., has been chosen to represent the A's.
Cherry and the other 29 winners will be a part of the All-Star Week festivities in New York City. They'll get a private tour of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, a VIP reception on the USS Intrepid and an appearance at the All-Star Red Carpet Show in addition to attending the Chevrolet Home Run Derby. Moreover, they will attend and be honored during the pregame ceremony leading up to the All-Star Game at Citi Field.
Fans voted online for the 30 winners from a pool of 90 finalists.
Cherry earned three Purple Hearts, five Air Medals and the Silver Star during a military career that saw him lose a leg while saving three soldiers and a medic while under heavy fire in Vietnam. He also served as the San Francisco Veterans Medical Center chaplain for 25 years, working with veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Cherry played golf on 165 of 166 days in 48 states to raise awareness for disabled people and vets in sports. He also started a wheelchair foundation in 2005 for disabled children in Vietnam, furnishing more than 1,000 wheelchairs and sponsoring more than 60 surgeries and artificial limbs.