May 31, 2009
CHAPEL HILL -- Tyler Treadway, a senior from Mt. Pleasant, N.C., is the
2008-09 recipient of the Jason Ray Memorial Spirit Award given by the
University of North Carolina Department of Athletics. Treadway played the
mascot, Rameses, for the past three seasons.
The award is named in honor of Jason Ray, another former Tar Heel mascot,
who was tragically killed in 2007 in a pedestrian/vehicle accident in New
Jersey during the NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional. Cheerleader Jeremy
Crouthamel was the award's first recipient.
Carolina Athletics presents the award annually to a member of the band,
cheerleaders, dance team or mascots. It is given to the squad member who
best honors Ray's legacy of enthusiastic representation of Carolina,
academic achievement and community service.
"Tyler is a very deserving recipient because of the work he has done in our
community, his academic achievement and because he is the very embodiment of
what Jason Ray meant to the University of North Carolina," says cheerleading
coach Brown Walters, who along with the cheerleaders, nominated Treadway.
Treadway, the son of Sam and Resa Treadway, was graduated from UNC with a
bachelor of arts in history and a minor in Christianity. He will attend Wake
Forest to pursue a master's in education.
Treadway was a UNC Teaching Fellow, a captain in Relay for Life, a Dance
Marathon participant and was also a mascot for the Durham Bulls.
Carolina Athletics and the Ray family will present Treadway with the award
at the football game against The Citadel on September 5th.
