Tim Bringle Memorial Award
The spirit of Tim Bringle fills the rooms and halls and particularly the playing fields of Elkhart Schools. This spirit is not a frightening thing, but rather the warm and friendly, free and easy, fun and likable companion that indeed characterized Tim Bringle, the young man.
Tim was born Ray Delos Bringle on Feb. 8, 1919, in the little town of Brook, Indiana, near the Illinois border. He came to Elkhart with his parents, brother and sister, and attended Middlebury Elementary School.
Very early in his school life, Tim Bringle was marked by two helpful attributes: a coordinated, athletic talent and, even more important, a charming, disarming personality. Progressing through Roosevelt Junior High School, his athletic ability set him apart from most of his classmates. Later, at Elkhart High School, Tim was destined to become one of the premier “superstars” of EHS sports history.
He climaxed a stellar athletic career, graduating in 1937, by blazing away to 19 touchdowns, almost every one of them a broken-field classic. In basketball, he played forward on a strong basketball team, and shifted immediately at season’s end to the track team, on which he was the No. 1 pole vaulter. These athletic exploits, which saw him named All-State in football, were followed by football stardom at Indiana University.
Enlisting in the Air Force in 1941, Tim Bringle became Sgt. Bringle, crew chief and top gunner on a combat B-17 crew.
Tim and his nine crew members were shot down and killed in a raid over Germany in July of 1944.
Listed as missing in action until after his death was verified after the war, Tim Bringle’s name is now memorialized by the award bearing his name, which is presented to the outstanding senior athlete in Elkhart who most closely epitomizes this heroic young man.
The one dimension which overrides even pure athletic prowess in the Bringle Award is that the recipient must me curt from the same self-effacing, humble, altruistic cloth that exemplifies this honor. Without the “spirit,” an athlete becomes a cold mass of statistics reflecting physical skills and lusterless accomplishments derived from a well-endowed body and early physical maturity. With the “spirit” an athlete is a well-rounded, dedicated person who realizes that success is transitory and fleeting, yet to be savored with an attitude of gratitude and appreciation that sets him above and beyond his peers, devoid of childish arrogance.
Such a young man was Ray D. “Tim” Bringle, so it should be to all who carry his “spirit” as winners of the Tim Bringle Memorial Award.
The Tim Bringle Memorial Award is presented annually to the top high school senior male athlete at Elkhart Community Schools. The following are the Tim Bringle Award recipients:
- 1947 DICK BERLICK Elkhart High
- 1948 ED LONGFELLOW Elkhart High
- 1949 DICK TAIT Elkhart High
- 1950 PAT MONTAGANO Elkhart High
- 1951 DICK STARNER Elkhart High
- 1952 WAYNE GRUBER Elkhart High
- 1953 JACK TILLMAN Elkhart High
- 1954 DOYNE GLASSBURN Elkhart High
- 1955 JIM EGER Elkhart High
- 1956 NEAL SAWYER Elkhart High
- 1957 TED LUCKENBILL Elkhart High
- 1958 ROLLIE HUFFMAN Elkhart High
- 1959 JEFF SLABAUGH Elkhart High
- 1960 JIM EVANS Elkhart High
- 1961 STEVE BELL Elkhart High
- 1962 COLEY WEBB Elkhart High
- 1963 JOHN CHESTER Elkhart High
- 1964 GARY NICHOLS Elkhart High
- 1965 MIKE FRANGER Elkhart High
- 1966 BILL FREDERICK Elkhart High
- 1967 ED ALBRIGHT Elkhart High
- 1968 ORDERIA MITCHELL Elkhart High
- 1969 CHUCK BAKER Elkhart High
- 1970 BOB HERRICK Elkhart High
- 1970 GARVIN ROBERSON Elkhart High
- 1971 JOHN BABCOCK Elkhart High
- 1972 MIKE STOCK Elkhart High
- 1973 TOM EASTMAN Elkhart Central
- 1974 RON SMITH Elkhart Memorial
- 1975 RICK MATOVICH Elkhart Central
- 1976 TOM GLANDERS Elkhart Central
- 1977 ROD ROBERSON Elkhart Central
- 1978 SCOTT HOMAN Elkhart Central
- 1979 MIKE GARY Elkhart Memorial
- 1980 MARK FIORITTO Elkhart Central
- 1981 JERRY EAKLE Elkhart Central
- 1982 JOHN SOPTICH Elkhart Memorial
- 1983 RICHARD DELKS Elkhart Central
- 1984 DENNIS ROBINSON Elkhart Central
- 1985 WAYNE BIAS Elkhart Central
- 1986 MARK MILLS Elkhart Memorial
- 1987 MATT RONZONE Elkhart Memorial
- 1988 DAN BREKKE Elkhart Central
- 1989 ROSS HALES Elkhart Memorial
- 1990 MATT RUESS Elkhart Memorial
- 1991 ANDY LOUGH Elkhart Memorial
- 1992 ROBERT JONES Elkhart Central
- 1993 AARON MOSS Elkhart Memorial
- 1994 CHRIS COZORT Elkhart Central
- 1995 ROD GAWTHROP Elkhart Central
- 1996 JIMMY CEBRA Elkhart Memorial
- 1997 JOE SCHOEN Elkhart Memorial
- 1998 BEN MATHERLY Elkhart Memorial
- 1999 JEREMY WALTERS Elkhart Central
- 2000 MATTHEW DAVIS Elkhart Memorial
- 2001 SEAN BRODERICK Elkhart Memorial
- 2002 KYLE SEARS Elkhart Memorial
- 2003 JERIMY ROBINSON Elkhart Central
- 2004 MARCUS PEREZ Elkhart Central
- 2005 NICHOLAS CORPE Elkhart Memorial
- 2006 BEN BATTJES Elkhart Memorial
- 2007 NATHAN PALMER Elkhart Central
- 2008 JOSH ROBINSON Elkhart Central
- 2009 KOREY CARPENTER Elkhart Central
- 2009 ROBERT FITZSIMMONS Elkhart Memorial
- 2010 ZACHARY CORPE Elkhart Memorial
- 2011 SAMUEL BRADEN Elkhart Central
- 2012 URSTON SMITH Elkhart Memorial
- 2013 MATTHEW EPPERS Elkhart Central
- 2014 TIESHAWN JOHNSON Elkhart Memorial
- 2015 TREYTON HARRIS Elkhart Central
- 2016 JON BAILEY Elkhart Memorial
- 2017 DAVID ELI Elkhart Memorial
- 2018 NOLAN GROSE Elkhart Memorial
- 2019 NATE DIBLEY Elkhart Central
- 2020 DOMINIQUE DAVIS Elkhart Central
- 2021 DERRICK WOODS Elkhart High
- 2022 TEAGEN RODRIGUEZ Elkhart High
- 2023 BRAYDEN JELLISON Elkhart High