Joseph Plunk, Kash Bradley named co-winners of 2024 Blair Cherry Award

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Joseph Plunk and Kash Bradley were named co-winners of the 2024 Blair Cherry Award on Tuesday.

Since 1969, the Blair Cherry Award has been one of the most prestigious athletic honors in the Texas Panhandle.

Named after the legendary Amarillo High and University of Texas coach, the award is given to a collegiate football player from the Panhandle, and a $500 scholarship is given to their alma mater.

This year, for the first time in the award’s 55-year history, there were two winners announced: Tascosa alumnus Joseph Plunk from Texas Tech and Bushland alumnus Kash Bradley from Colorado Mesa.

“It’s a big deal,” Plunk said. “There’s a lot of big time names in there, guys that I really respect and mean a lot to Amarillo, and this community. It’s a huge honor. I’m very honored to to have this opportunity to to represent Amarillo and Tascosa.”

Amarillo High’s Jameson Garcia and Caprock’s Jamel Acosta-Lewis were also nominated.

Plunk and Bradley join an extensive list of the best collegiate football players to come from the Panhandle, including Plunk’s older brother, Alex, who won the award in 2018. Plunk’s father, Ken, is the head football coach at Tascosa, and spoke on his son’s achievement.

“It’s always exciting,” Ken Plunk said. “It’s a great honor anytime you win an award that Danny Lester has won, or Dick Graham. Dick was my neighbor, and I really respected him. Some of the names on there, it makes it really really special. It’s special, both as a coach and as a dad, for Joseph to be the recipient.”

Not only is this the first year to have co-winners, but Kash Bradley marks the first winner outside of AISD.

“It means a lot,” Bradley said. “There’s been a lot of great athletes in the past who have won this, so it’s just an honor to be in that with them, and be honored like that. Even here, the four athletes here today are great athletes. It’s just an honor to be recognized with them.”

The committee decided to include other area schools for the first time this year. Bushland head football coach Josh Reynolds spoke on what the award means.

“It’s a very prestigious award,” Reynolds said. “If you were around here [or] grew up around here, you know a lot about it, you see it every year [I’m] very excited about for all those nominees up there.”

There are many notable previous award-winners, including current Randall and Palo Duro head football coaches Dan Sherwood and Eric Mims.

Former first round NFL draft pick Ziggy Hood, who played a 10-year professional career with six different teams, also won the award.

Blair Cherry Award-Winners

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