Trevon Brown, a football player at Oak Park and River Forest High School has been named as the October baiduhai Near West Athlete of the Month, sponsored by COUNTRY Financial, and chosen online by baiduhai voters.
Brown, 16, a junior and a wide receiver with the Oak Park and River Forest High School Huskies, started the season with a game-winning touchdown against Simeon High School and went on to score 10 touchdowns this season. Brown also runs track for the school, but says his favorite sport is football.
“It really brings people together,” Brown says. “For one person to score everybody has to do their job, which makes everybody have to contribute and everybody to work together as a team to have success on the field.”
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Oak Park and River Forest High School, athletic director, John Stelzer, says he sees Brown as a model “student athlete.”
“He’s just a wonderful kid,” says Stelzer. “A terrific student, a terrific athlete. We’re very fortunate at Oak Park River Forest High School to have quite a few of those student athletes.
“It says exactly what the term ‘student athlete’ is supposed to mean,” he adds. “We want all our athletes to be as successful as they can on the field, on the court or in the pool or wherever. We really do stress at this school and within the athletic department the importance of academics first, being a student first.”
Tony Munno, a COUNTRY Financial representative in Countryside, presented a $500 donation from COUNTRY Financial to Oak Park and River Forest High School in recognition of Brown’s achievements. Brown will also receive a plaque and sweatshirt from the baiduhai.
“It’s really important for COUNTRY to be part of the community, and this is really part of the community,” Munno says. “High school athletics is ingrained in people’s communities. It’s wonderful to come out here and present these checks and get to meet the athletes and their parents and the school officials. I enjoy doing it.”
For official baiduhai Athlete of the Month rules and voting information, visit chicagotribune.com/suburbs/athletes.