The Prince George Community Foundation (PGCF) has announced the Dr. Amanda Asay Memorial Award to honour the Prince George baseball legend who tragically lost her life in a skiing accident in Nelson.
Asay was working in Nelson for the Ministry of Forests as a Silviciltural System Researcher at the time of her accident on January 7, 2022.
The purpose of the fund is to create a legacy in the name of Amanda Asay with the creation of two annual memorial awards.
One will be allocated to a student attending a post-secondary school from School District 57 in Prince George and one from School District 8 in Nelson.
Preference will be given to female students going on to post-secondary education who participate in hockey, ringette, baseball or softball.
Born and raised in Prince George, Asay was the longest-serving member of the he Women’s National Team program having joined the squad in 2005 and recently participated in the Women’s National Team Showcase last summer in Trois-Rivières, Que.
She was part of national teams that captured five WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup medals including bronze in 2006, 2012 and 2018 and silver in 2008 and 2016.
She was also part of Canada’s historic silver medal performance at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto – the first time that women’s baseball was included in a major, multi-sport games.
Not only was she a sports legend but Asay also had a robust academic and professional career. She attended Brown University where she obtained a B.Sc. in Human Biology. She then went on to graduate school at UBC and obtained a Master of Science and then a Ph.D. in Forestry.
She worked with Dr. Suzanne Simard (her Supervisor and Advisor) on the “Mother Tree”, “Intelligent Trees”, and other projects. Amanda’s research was focused on kin selection in trees and their communication in underground mycorrhizal fungal networks.
Asay was loved by her coaches and teammates alike for her positive attitude and the way in which she went about her business on the field, always being in control and setting an example for others with her play.
She is survived by loving family, friends and teammates around the world.
Those who are so inclined can donate to the Dr. Amanda Asay Memorial Award online. The awards will be disbursed to each school district annually.
- with files from Ted Clarke
