Quinn McEgan Award
Here at Wayne Makin, home to Norco Little League, there is a plaque located on Field 1 that bears the name “Quinn McEgan”. It states, “IN RECOGNITION OF HIS DETERMINATION”, and if only one word could be used to define Quinn, it would be “DETERMINATION”.
Born with a condition that restricted his hearing to less than half of the normal range, Quinn overcame learning and speech difficulties to become a “Straight A” student. He was the 6th grade Class President at Highland Elementary in Norco. He received several awards in school including Honor Roll and the Presidential Academic Fitness award at Norco Intermediate School. Determination.
Challenged with a “Pigeon Chest”, Quinn’s athletic abilities far surpassed all expectation to be excellent in baseball. Baseball was Quinn’s passion. For six years he played for Norco Little League. He expanded his skill set with his time on a travel ball team, where he was teammates with LA Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela’s son. He represented the United States in a Junior Pan Am tournament in Mexico. Quinn’s last season with Norco Little League landed him on Norco Senior Braves. He played pitcher, catcher and first base that year. If his hitting was off, he would call his coach, Louie Rivera, and meet him for batting practice after a rough game. Despite all his coaches pushing for his success, no one pushed Quinn harder than Quinn himself. Determination.
Each weekend for 6 months, Quinn, with the help of Coach Louie Rivera, built a batting cage in his backyard. The day Quinn graduated from 8th grade, he hit a 400-foot HOME RUN out of Butterfield Park in Corona. Determination.
On June 14, 1997, Quinn was dressed in his Norco Little League Braves uniform on his way to Closing Ceremonies. Quinn was in the passenger side seat leaning down to adjust the stereo when the driver of the car lost control. The car crashed into the split-rail fencing on Vine Ave. One of the fence rails penetrated the engine compartment and went through the dashboard.
Quinn passed away at the scene of the accident at the young age of 15.
At Quinn’s memorial service, Coach Louie Rivera brought a load of red brick dust from Quinn’s batting cage. Family, friends and players from countless teams put their hands in that familiar dust and shared stories of Quinn.
At the end of each season, here at Norco Little League, managers are honored to choose one player from their team, AA to Senior Division, to be recognized. The Quinn McEgan Award is not awarded to the player who made the most homeruns, or the most popular player on the team. Instead, this award is presented to the player that made Norco Little League better with their exceptional sportsmanship, leadership, and of course, determination.