The International Women’s Baseball Center’s 2024 Hustle Award Winner, Oz Sailors, provided these words following her announced winning of the award this year:
Shirley Burkovich was one of the most influential and important people in my life.
From her gentle and loving presence, to her unwavering faith and the joy she brought to every baseball
field or room she walked in.
Shirley was loyal, humble, and giving. She had a peace about her that made everyone comfortable when
they were around her. She was the type of person that everyone wanted to be around.
Being named the Shirley Hustle Award Recipient for 2024 was one of the greatest honors of my life.
Shirley lived her life in a manner in which I admired so much. Her faith was unwavering and the love she
had for the game of baseball and the lives she touched using the sport we love as a vehicle will have an
impact for many generations to come. It is a privilege to be mentioned in the same sentence and I would
like to thank my family, Baseball for all and my coaches, teammates, and friends for their
unconditional support. Thank you to the IWBC for their recognition of this special honor and thanks to
God for allowing me to be here today to receive this honor and for the blessing of getting to spend a
lifetime in the great game of baseball.
