Taney Dragons honored, humbled to receive Wanamaker Award

MO'NE DAVIS was looking around her closet in search of her blue-and-maroon Taney Dragons jersey.

At first, she, like many of her teammates, had no idea what the John Wanamaker Athletic Award was for.

"I just knew that there was a Taney award and I needed to find my jersey," Davis said Friday at the awards ceremony. "That's all I knew at first."

The award is given annually by the Philadelphia Sports Congresss to the athlete, team or organization that has done the most to reflect credit upon Philadelphia and to the team or sport in which they excel. It's hard to picture a more deserving winner than the group of youngsters who captivated Philadelphians last August in their run to the Little League World Series U.S. final.

The Dragons join a storied list of past Wanamaker recipients, including Wilt Chamberlain, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt and Reggie White. The prize dates to 1961.

"I don't really know a lot about the award, but I know, historically, that Mike Schmidt, Moses Malone, the Phillies ," pitcher Jared Sprague-Lott said. "It's great to be recognized."

While Davis didn't know much about the honor at first, she was humbled when she looked at a list of past recipients.

"It's actually really, really deep," Davis said, while pointing to her heart. "It's really unreal. You wouldn't think that, if Wilt Chamberlain got this award, a 12- or 13-year-old would get this award. It's really unreal."

It's a lot to ask a 12- or 13 year-old to comprehend the magnitude of some of the honors, including the Wanamaker, that the Dragons have received. And if not right now, these players someday will fully grasp what they meant to Philadelphia in the summer of 2014.

"I guess it's a big deal," Davis said, almost asking. "I'm not really sure, but, it seems pretty big."

It's been a long, wild ride for Taney. But, it's all been real. Since last August, the team has been on a seemingly endless media and award tour. It didn't click for the players at first, according to head coach Alex Rice. But, after some time, the players began to understand why the city fell in love with their Little League World Series run.

"It's not for purely athletic achievement," Rice said. "We've been stressing that and living that kind of a lot over the past several months. Since we've gotten back, the kids have had so many opportunities and experiences and awards that it took a while for them to grasp why they were so popular and why the city embraced them so much. It wasn't just because they were good, little baseball players. This award, and some of the others that they've gotten - the Maneto Award, for civic pride - it took a while, but I think they all get it now . . . these awards aren't just for getting better at hitting a baseball.

"I think they now get the civic aspect of these awards."

Civic pride and community involvement are concepts many middle-schoolers haven't been able to fathom. The experiences the Dragons had over the last year have given each player a sense of what it means to be civically engaged.

"It started out being kind of surreal," outfielder Kai Cummings said. "Once we started playing, once we started doing a lot after it was really over. Going to accept huge awards and stuff like that, it to see what we've really done for the city. It feels good."

Sprague-Lott believes two things epitomize Philadelphia: pride and "Brotherly Love."

"As a team, we're definitely family," he said. "We're close to each other and we never give up. We're hardworking."

The team has remained tight-knit, even after their time in Little League has come and gone. The Dragons enjoy getting off the diamond and playing soccer and basketball together, and usually see one another a few times a week. Seven of the players, including Davis, play together on the Anderson Monarchs, a year-round travel baseball team.

The Monarchs, much like Taney, are set to give their players a set of unforgettable experiences this summer.

"We're going on a barnstorming tour down south," Davis said. "It's a tribute to civil rights. We're going to Alabama - Birmingham, Selma - Jackson, Miss. Different places and major civil rights cities."