Nov. 17, 2011

EASTON, Pa. - After leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a dramatic American League Wild Card berth, Joe Maddon '76 has been named 2011 AL Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Maddon is now a two-time Manager of the Year, having claimed the award in 2008 after leading the Rays to their first World Series appearance in franchise history. His 2011 Tampa Bay club posted a 91-71 record and won the AL Wild Card on the final day of the regular season after trailing the Boston Red Sox by nine games in the standings with 24 left to play. Maddon received 26 of 28 first-place votes - the other first-place tallies went to Detroit's Jim Leyland and Texas' Ron Washington.

The skipper, who majored in Economics as a student-athlete, will be returning to the Lehigh Valley this weekend for the 147th Lafayette-Lehigh football game. He will join the Lafayette Sports Network's John Leone on the sideline for a halftime interview as a part of a live telecast that can be viewed worldwide on ESPN3 and GoLeopards.com.

Maddon played catcher at Lafayette from 1973-75 under head coach Norm Gigon. He was initially recruited to play football, however, and played one season of freshman football for the Leopards. In his final football game, he completed 14 of 17 passes for four touchdowns in a win over Lehigh. The Hazleton, Pa. native then turned his attention exclusively to baseball and played three seasons on the diamond at College Hill before signing as a free agent with the California Angels.

After four years as a backstop in the Angels' minor-league system, Maddon remained with the organization in various coaching roles. He served two short stints as interim manager of the Angels in 1996 and 1999 and was a bench coach for the club's 2002 World Series Championship. He became the Rays' manager in November of 2005. Maddon, a 2009 Maroon Club Hall of Fame inductee, was awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree from Lafayette on Sept. 2, 2010.