ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- Brad Canada received a pair of honors from the Missouri Valley Conference, as he was named the male recipient of the Valley's Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete Award and was also named a Valley postgraduate scholarship winner, according to an announcement by the league office Wednesday.
The Missouri Valley Conference Faculty Athletics Representatives Committee selected Canada from a field of league student-athletes who met the Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete criteria, which includes academic achievement, athletics excellence and service and leadership. He was also one of two student-athletes to receive a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship from the conference office.
Canada is the third Bradley student-athlete to earn the Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete Award since 2000, joining Mary Ellen Hill (2000) and Tam Hart (2003). He is the fifth Bradley student-athlete to earn one of the Valley's postgraduate scholarships in the last six years joining Mary Ellen Hill (2000), Lora Weber (2002), Tam Hart (2003) and Shannon Taylor (2004).
A native of Fishers, Ind., Canada graduated from Bradley with a bachelor's degree in finance with a cumulative 3.90 grade point average. He was a two-time ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American, earning first-team honors in 2005 and second-team honors in 2004. He joined Judy Burns (1983) and Dan Thorstenson (2000) as Bradley's only first-team Academic All-Americans, while he joins Thorstenson as Bradley's only two-time academic All-Americans. He earned a spot on the Bradley Athletic Director's Academic Honor Roll list in all eight of his college semesters, and recently earned the Bradley University Watonga Award.
A starter on Bradley's baseball team, Canada finished the season with a .339 batting average and led the Braves with a .455 on-base percentage. He set the single-season (19) and career (33) records for hit-by-pitches, and started all 50 games for the 28-22 Braves. In 2005, he earned second-team all-conference honors as a utility player and was also selected as an honorable mention at first base. He was a second-team all-conference performer in 2004 as well (at catcher). Canada plans on pursuing a master's degree in business administration at DePaul University.
Canada was a contributing member to Bradley's B.L.A.S.T. (Building Leadership and Supporting Teams) Life Skills Program and had also served as a member of the Braves Council (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) and as a university tutor. He volunteered with Bradley's State Farm “Just Read” initiative at elementary schools and volunteered at a food shelter during his participation in the Alaskan Summer Baseball League in 2004.
