WILLMAR -- Brady Toops is used to being versatile.
The 2000 New London-Spicer graduate will be the first speaker at the 48th annual Hengstler-Ranweiler Banquet to also provide musical entertainment.
Toops, who was an H-R nominee in 2000 along with brother Casey and sister Mickie (the three are triplets), staked his athletic reputation in baseball. Playing for New London-Spicer High School, Toops became the all-time hit leader the West Central Tribune area in 2000 with 136.
That vaulted him to the University of Arkansas. He was the starting catcher on the 2004 team that went to the NCAA Regional Tournament in Fayetteville, where he hit a ninth-inning, game-winning grand-slam home run to put the Razorbacks into the regional final.
He then was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and played through 2006 before moving on to his new career.
ADVERTISEMENT
Toops now entertains with his voice. He released a Christian acoustic album, "Only You," late last year in which he wrote all the songs himself.
He also has a younger brother, Skip, a 2002 Hengster-Ranweiler nominee, and a younger sister, Wendy, who is a Hengstler-Ranweiler nominee this year, making the children of George and Kim Toops of New London the largest family in H-R history with five nominees.
The Hengstler-Ranweiler Award is named after two longtime West Central Tribune sports editors, Herb Hengstler and Lefty Ranweiler. The award honors the top three-sport athletes from the area.
The banquet will be held Monday at Ridgewater College.
