Sara Jo Murff said she remembers growing up in Houston and listening to the World Series broadcast over the intercom at her high school.

By ADAM WADSWORTH
Staff Writer
Tyler Morning Telegraph

After Red Murff passed away in 2008, his wife decided she wanted to give back to the game she and her husband loved so much.

The NJCAA World Series Committee and Austin Bank established the Sara Jo Murff Scholarship in 2009 and selected its inaugural recipients from the class of 2010.

The scholarship, which will be awarded at the 2010 NJCAA World Series in Tyler, is given to college-bound high school seniors who played either baseball or softball in the Smith County region and have exhibited academic excellence.

"They could be either boys or girls, but they had to have good grades," Sara Jo Murff said. "I was a teacher so that was very important to me."

Sara Jo Murff said she is proud that all three recipients this year are softball players.

Emily B. Costlow, of Whitehouse; Megan D. Dowdy, of Troup; and Mollie S. Mink, of Chapel Hill, are all attending college in Tyler and were active in their communities as well as their school and softball teams.

Costlow will graduate 14th in her class from Whitehouse High School with a 97.52 average. In addition to being awarded All-District Academic Excellence, she was involved in the Health Science Society, National Honor Society, Children's Miracle Network and Heart of Hope.

Costlow plans to attend UT Tyler, which she said she chose because of the school's nursing program.

"Nursing has been a big influence in my life," she said. "And I also like the hospitals around here as well as the nursing program."

Dowdy will graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.79 from Troup High School. She was Academic All-District in 2010, Honor Roll all four years in high school and was active in the National Honor Society, Executive Student Council, One Act Play and school yearbook. Dowdy plans to major in mathematics at Tyler Junior College.

Mink will graduate from Chapel Hill High School with an 87.21 average. In addition to excelling academically and captaining the volleyball team, she played varsity softball all four years in high school at left and right field.

"Softball has helped me a lot," she said. "It's helped make me the person I am today."

Mink also will attend Tyler Junior College to pursue a career in nursing.