The Detroit area Honda dealer, presenter of the Detroit High School Sports Awards, presented the Honda Inspiration Award for the seventh consecutive year.
This year’s winner was Paul Ellis, swimming and diving coach at Bloomfield Hills-Cranbrook-Kingswood High School.
This award was created to recognize the coaches, teachers and adults who make a daily impact in the lives of student-athletes. Nominations are submitted by students and spotlight someone who has always inspired them to try hard and do the right thing on and off the playing field.
“I may not know as much as your club coach, but I can promise you one thing: I’ll help you swim faster.”
Those were just some of the words Ellis shared with student-athlete Andrew Delzer, who nominated Ellis for the Inspiration Award. Delzer reflected that those words, along with Ellis’ humility, work ethic and belief in his team, gave him and his teammates instant confidence. Delzer went on to say that Ellis’ dedication to his swimmers and program is why they had the best season in school history.
“Every day, Paul stepped onto the deck with confidence, enthusiasm and precision that I have never seen in my many years as an elite athlete,” Delzer said. “Paul’s ability to bring together a diverse group of high school swimmers with different swimming ability levels, backgrounds and senses of humor allowed my teammates and I to thrive in any environment.”
“I will always have great respect for Paul, but even though I no longer swim for him, I still see him as a friend and someone I can call anytime and have a good conversation with. I hope to continue this relationship with him in the future.”
The Detroit High School Sports Awards, presented by Detroit Area Honda Dealers, took place Tuesday night at the Fillmore. The show, produced in partnership with the U.S. Army, recognized more than 300 student-athletes from metro Detroit and surrounding counties.
