The 3.0er of the Year - Barry Bastian
(Westowne)
Singles Player of the Year - Sean Doyle
(Two's Athletic Club)
Doubles Player of the Year - Barry Bastian
(Westowne)
Doubles Team of the Year - Barry Bastian & Richard Toth
(Westowne)
Captain of the Year - Brian Kraig
(Cleveland Racquet Club)
The 2005 rendition of the D.F.O. awards were history making, and who better to make that history than two 3.0 legends! Indeed, Barry and Richard, tethered in 3.0 success throughout their 3.0 careers, three-peated as Doubles Team of the Year thanks to yet another double-digit winning season. They weren't dont there, however, as Barry became the first 3.0er ever to repeat as Doubles Player and The 3.0er of the Year! Indeed, in their final season together, the two enjoyed one of their best seasons ever, notching double digit wins in league play before finishing their tandem time together with three wins in the playoffs!
CRC's Brian, thanks to double digit wins, was named Captain of the Year while Sean became the second player from TAC to be named Singles Player of the Year thanks to his all-around play! Indeed, Sean duly earned the most illustrious singles award this website has to offer, hoisting the Howard Haynes Championship while also winning in league and playoff play all came together to make him a more than worthy recipient of the earned him one of the most coveted 3.0 awards around!
DFO 3.0 Player of the Year Nominees
* = Years at 3.0; Nomination Criteria
Singles
Tournament Qualifiers
Lee S. Bollow*5
Tournament: South Regency Semi-Finalist (0-1)
League: 2-1 Singles, 5-0 Doubles, Flight Championship
Playoff: 0-1 Doubles
Sean Doyle*3
Tournament: Howard Haynes Champion (3-0)
League: 5-2 Singles, 3-0 Doubles
Playoff: 0-2 Singles
Jeffrey Fazek*2
Tournament: Akron Open Finalist (3-1)
League: 3-3 Singles, 2-2 Doubles
Brian Kraig*6 (Cleveland Racquet Club)
League: 0-2 Singles, 2-3 Doubles
Doubles Team of the Year Nominees
Tournament Qualifiers
Joseph Lahovich*8/John Turley*8
Tournament: Akron Open Finalists (1-1)
League: 4-1 Doubles, Flight Champion
Playoff: 1-0 Doubles
Jeffrey Leslie*6/Greg Snyder*3
Tournament: Akron Open Champions (2-0)
League: 1-0 Doubles
Barry Bastian*6/Richard Toth*8 (Westowne)
League: 10-2 Doubles; Playoffs: 3-3 Doubles
Michael J. Kaufman*4/Daniel Kilbane*2 (Ketterington)
League: 4-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 3-0
Voting Notes
As for the singles award, historically, the Akron Open is seen as the oldest, biggest, and most entered event of the 3.0 tournament season, and with good reason. Because as of today, well, the Akron Open is the oldest, biggest, and most entered tournament. However, in 2005, the Akron Open took place for the first time ever ... meanwhile the Geiger's Open was in fact older (by one year!), bigger (more entries!), and the most entered (18 entries, two more than the AO). Thus, one would think that Jordan, who still holds a tie for most tournament wins in a single event (5), would have the lead while Barret, winning the second biggest event of the tournament season, would be close behind in earning PotY status. And that's where you would be wrong! While their accomplishments were incredibly significant, their one-and-done status was but a small blemish on their otherwise fantastic 3.0 seasons, and while not a 100% disqualifier, their being really, really good, did, ironically, pull them back to the field a bit. Which is why Sean, winner of a smaller event, ended up as this year's Singles Player of the Year, as his all-around league, playoff, and tournament play, combined with his 3.0 status, earned him the most noted singles award this organization has to offer! Simply put, Sean, who won a smaller tournament, impressed the Voting Panel with his solid all around play in all facets of the 3.0 universe.
As for the doubles award, the Voting Panel was faced with a tricky dilemma - reward tournament success or reward league success or reward playoff success? Taking either side would set a precedent for years - perhaps decades! - to follow, thus the Voting Panel had to take their time to arrive at a fair and equitable decision. Barry and Richard, the two-time defending D.F.O. Player of the Year recipients were clearly more than worthy of a third trip to the imaginary awards stand as they enjoyed their best league season to date. Yet, the fact that the other two tandems going for the award played tournament play added a wrinkle to the voting. Then, add in that Joseph and John and Jeff and Greg had actually played one another at the Akron Open, well, things were just getting interesting! Ultimately, this factor helped sway the judges, especially since the match ended in essentially an even-steven three set score, and as such, that close match, combined with their combined league, playoff, and tournament play, helped the team of Joseph and John stay in the running for the most illustrious doubles award this organization hands out (figuratively speaking of course; there's no actual award). In the end, though, the combined talent of Barry and Richard won the day, the D.F.O. Doubles Team of the Year award!
As for the captain award, Brian Kraig of CRC enjoyed an 11 win season while last year's winner Barry Bastian took two more Flight championships en route to 18 total team wins ... divided over two teams. What's that mean? Good question!
In a somber note, Sean lost his battle to ALS in 2016, but brought the same passion to that battle as he did to the tennis courts, and participated as often in possible in local efforts to alleviate ALS and its impact. While we here at the DFO pride ourselves on our idiocy (I mean, we've dedicated pretty much a whole website to the lowest level of adult tennis you can find), we want to make sure we give everyone, both past and present, the respect they richly deserve. In that vein, please feel free to visit here to help continue Sean's legacy.
Ineligible Nominees
Bob Angel*1
Tournament: South Regency Champion (3-0)
Notes: The winner of the first ever - and last, as it turned out - SRC, Bob goes down in history as the one and only SRC title holder! #HistoryMaker!
Barret Molenaur*1
Tournament: Akron Open Champion (4-0)
Notes: One-and-done doesn't take away from Barret's hoisting of the grandest of all the 3.0 tournaments in all the land (and by "land," we obviously mean "Ohio)!
Jordan Payner*1
Tournament: Geiger's Open Champion (5-0)
Notes: The biggest event of the year with the biggest field of the year, Jordan goes down in 3.0 history as one of the few to run the gamut of winning not one, not two, not three, not four, BUT FIVE matches in one tournament! WHOA!
Michael H. Croke*1 (Westowne)
League: 5-1 Singles, 3-1 Doubles; Playoffs: 2-0 Singles, 5-0 Doubles
Notes: An amazing league season just got even more amazing as Michael helped lead his team to a Midwest Ohio Championships Championship!
Jeffrey Fazek*1/Scott Lehner*4
Tournament: Akron Open Consolation Title (1-1)
Notes: Scott, one of the most decorated 3.0 doubles players of his generation, won his first hardware at the historically most signficant event on the 3.0 landscape!
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