Golfer Albert Crews Named 2006 PetroSun Independence Bowl
Sportsman of the Year

November 7 , 2006

Shreveport, La. – PetroSun Independence Bowl officials announced on Tuesday that Albert Crews has been named the PetroSun Independence Bowl’s “2006 Sportsman of the Year.”

Crews, 54, is a resident of Homer, La., and recently appeared on the Golf Channel’s reality television show, “The Big Break VI” which is a show that matched nine men and nine women against one another in “a variety of challenges that test their skills and mental toughness for the right to compete in two Champions Tour and two LPGA Tour events, respectively.”

Crews, who was eliminated from the show on Oct. 31 after a successful run over the past few months, was one of the most unique stories in the show’s history. Crews plays golf cross-handed, meaning his right hand is positioned on top of the left hand when he grips a club, and also taught himself to play the game. He even took 24-hour Greyhound bus trips to mini-tour events.

“This is a great opportunity for us to showcase one of our own for the Sportsman of the Year award,” said PetroSun Independence Bowl Chairwoman Markey Pierre. “A home-grown talent of such caliber is what Albert is, and we are ecstatic to have him as our Sportsman of the Year.”

In 2005, Crews, whose goal is to play on the Champions Tour, qualified for the U.S. Senior Open by making birdie on the final hole to force a playoff and then went on to win the playoff. Crews serves as an associate pastor at the First Ebenezer Baptist Church in Homer. He also works as a concrete mason, a carpenter, and he even lays tile.

“I would like to thank the PetroSun Independence Bowl committee and I greatly appreciate them for naming me the 2006 Sportsman of the Year,” said Crews. “This is by far the most prestigious award that I have received in my golfing career.”

Crews joins an illustrious list of past recipients such as Tim Brando (1992), David Toms (1997), and Meredith Duncan (2001). The award was last given in 2004 to Brock Berlin.

This year’s award will be presented to Crews at the annual Minuteman Luncheon on Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 11:45 a.m. at Shreveport’s new Convention Center.

Tickets for the Minuteman Luncheon are available by calling the bowl office at 318.221.0712 or toll free at 888.414.BOWL (2695) from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets for the event are $25 and tables of eight are available for $200.

Tickets and parking passes for the 2006 PetroSun Independence Bowl as well as Bowl Week event tickets are available to the public by calling the bowl office or by visiting the bowl’s official web site at www.independencebowl.org.

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