Brayden Keeter awarded $25,000 Randy Keller Fighting Heart scholarship

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - It was a big night at Tascosa High School with one of the biggest honors of the year given out to one outstanding Rebel student.

“Let’s bring him up here. The 2023 Randy Keller fighting heart scholarship [recipient], Brayden Keeter.” Panhandle hall of fame sports writer Lance Lahnert announced as Keeter came to the stage.

Bryaden Keeter was a pitcher for the Tascosa Rebels baseball team this past season.

Through his hard work and strong character, he was able to take home the Randy Keller Fighting Heart scholarship.

The $25,000 honor is given to a student athlete (or athletes) each year that attend a school in the Amarillo Independent School District.

The scholarship honors the late Randy Keller, a former Tascosa baseball player who passed away in 1992.

Winners need to be involved in high school baseball, excel in the classroom, and live life in a positive way.

This year, Keeter became the 41st recipient of the award.

“It’s such a blessing to receive this honor.” Keeter said. “When I sat down and interviewed with the committee, they said they wanted to pick someone with the fighting heart that they saw in Randy. Just to get that phone call that I’ve received that scholarship, it’s just a true blessing coming from the family and people that knew Randy that they see me with a fighting heart in the same way.”

Keeter isn’t the only one receiving scholarship money in Keller’s honor.

Past winner Clay Aderholt tragically died in a car accident in 2013. Now, his two children, who are in fifth and eighth grade, will each receive $10,000 in scholarship money.

“For a long time, I’ve wanted to do something for those kids.” Dr. Jave Rush, a Randy Keller scholarship committee board member said. “I thought about it for a while, so this is kind of a long time coming. I also wanted to give this early enough where they could have time to plan and actually help them. They can plan out now that they know they’re going to have this extra money to go to school.”

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