Baylor Alumni Association to Present Public Service, Humanitarian Awards at Commencement

by Judy Prather, Baylor Alumni Association, (254) 710-6431

The Baylor Alumni Association will present two awards during summer commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, at the Ferrell Center. The Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award will be presented to the Honorable Sidney A. Fitzwater, and the non-profit organization Texas Baptist Men will receive the Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award.

Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award

The Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award is presented annually to an individual closely associated with Baylor whose record both exemplifies the spirit of selfless dedication to public service represented by the life and career of the late Gov. Price Daniel and reflects the true meaning of Baylor's official motto, "Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana" (For Church, For State).

This year's Daniel award recipient is the Honorable Sidney A. Fitzwater, U.S. District Judge in Dallas. Appointed by President Reagan in 1986, Fitzwater was 32 years old and the youngest federal judge in the United States at the time. He is still the country's youngest life-tenured federal judge.

Prior to his appointment, Fitzwater served from 1982-86 as judge of the 298th Judicial District Court of Dallas County, having previously practiced law with Vinson & Elkins in Houston and with Rain Harrell Emery Young & Doke in Dallas.

A 1975 graduate of Baylor, he earned his law degree from Baylor Law School in 1976, where he was associate editor of the Baylor Law Review and a member of the 1976 state moot court championship team. Among his Baylor honors are the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the Baylor Alumni Association in 1985. In 1986, the Fort Worth ISD selected him as one of their Outstanding Alumni.

Fitzwater is married to Nancy Ware Fitzwater, a 1974 Baylor graduate, and they have three sons and one granddaughter. The Fitzwaters are members of First Baptist Church of Dallas.

Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award

Texas Baptist Men, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, will receive the McCall Humanitarian Award. This is the first time an organization has been chosen to receive the award, which is normally presented annually to recognize alumni who have exhibited a Christian response to those situations and persons around them in ways exemplified by the late Baylor President Abner V. McCall.

In the 40 years since its founding as a men's mission organization in 1967, Texas Baptist Men has expanded to include almost 30 ministries across Texas and around the world, fulfilling their motto, "Anyway-Anytime-Anywhere." Their ministries span the ages from the Royal Ambassadors program for boys to the Retiree Builders, an organization of senior adults who travel the state building churches and other ministry centers.

The organization has been heavily involved in disaster relief, beginning with their first effort in 1968 to assist victims of Hurricane Beulah. Members have since provided relief to earthquake, hurricane and tornado victims in the United States and Central America and have airlifted medical supplies and water purification units to countries like Peru, Iran, Turkey and Zaire.
Leo Smith, executive director of Texas Baptist Men, will receive the award on behalf of the organization.

For more information, contact the Baylor Alumni Association at (254) 710-1121 or go to www.bayloralumni.com.