A's catcher Stephen Vogt has been named the recipient of the 2016 Dave Stewart Community Service Award, the team announced today. Stewart will present Vogt with the award prior to the game on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at approximately 12:23 p.m. in a special on-field ceremony.
The Dave Stewart Community Service Award is given annually to an A's player in recognition of charitable contributions throughout Northern California and across the nation. The award originated in 1996 in honor of Stewart's many years of community service in the Bay Area. Throughout the years, Stewart has been involved in many non-profit organizations, including the Oakland Boys & Girls Club and Team-Up for Youth, a program that supports healthy development for young people living in low income communities through after-school sports and physical activity programs.
Vogt becomes the first player in the award's history to win the honor twice, as he was also the A's recipient in 2015. He and his wife, Alyssa, are active supporters of the School of Imagination in Dublin, Calif., which provides support and services to more than 350 children, many with special needs and disabilities such as autism. Vogt makes monthly visits to the school each year and also hosts the students at the Oakland Coliseum various times throughout the season. This April, the Vogts and the Vogt Family Fund hosted the school's first-ever All-Star Benefit on World Autism Day, which raised more than $90,000 for autism awareness. The Vogts have been working with the school since 2014.
In addition, Vogt has supported many A's community initiatives and programs, including the A's PG&E "Energize Your Field" Little League field renovations, visits to local children's hospitals and various meet-and-greets with long-time A's fans and season ticket members, among many others.
Previous winners of the Dave Stewart Community Service Award include: Ernie Young (1996), Scott Spiezio (1997), Tom Candiotti (1998), Art Howe (1999), Jason Giambi (2000), Terrence Long (2001), Tim Hudson (2002), Scott Hatteberg (2003), Eric Chavez (2004), Barry Zito (2005), Mark Kotsay (2006), Mark Ellis (2007), Dana Eveland (2008), Dallas Braden and Kurt Suzuki (2009), Craig Breslow (2010), Josh Willingham (2011), Jonny Gomes (2012), Sean Doolittle (2013), Jed Lowrie (2014) and Vogt (2015).