FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (May 15, 2023) — Junior swimmer,
Emma Warner, was honored with the Col. Jay Vargas Perseverance Award as presented by Mike Marlow at the 2023 Louie awards.
The Col. Jay Vargas Perseverance Award is given to the Lumberjack student-athlete who has overcome great obstacles and adversity (physical, emotional, personal) to compete and/or excel in intercollegiate athletics.
"Getting this award means the absolute world to me, I feel so honored that Mike thought of me for that because I honestly work so hard in being the best individual person I can be. I tend to not let others define what I do and just try to push myself to be better," Warner said. "I try to be as involved as possible and lead by example because of how much was taken from me throughout my battle with cancer. Getting this award is something I will remember from NAU for the rest of my life."
Warner joined the NAU swimming and diving team in 2020 as a true freshman, a goal she made for herself shortly after her third surgery during her battle with papillary thyroid cancer.
Warner has been swimming since she was around six years old, and was diagnosed with her cancer when she was 12 years old. Not only was she trying to balance a normal life as a preteen, but now had to learn to do it all on top of doctors visits and battling a cancer she had never even realized could affect her.
The now NAU junior learned perseverance and hard work early on in life, putting her goals in front of her and noting her battle with cancer as a pivotal situation that motivates her to dream big and reach her goals.
The award
's namesake is Col. Jay Vargas, a member of the NAU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2010. A native of Winslow, Vargas played baseball at NAU from 1957-61 and earned All-Frontier Conference honors before graduating in 1961 with a bachelor
's degree in education.
After his time as a Lumberjack, Vargas joined the United States Marine Corps in which he served for nearly three decades before his retirement in 1992 as a Colonel.
For his heroic actions in the Vietnam War, Vargas was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon in 1970. He was also the recipient of the Silver Star, the Purple Heart with four Gold Stars, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Silver Star and Palm.
Vargas, the Grand Marshall of the NAU Homecoming Parade in 2009, currently resides in San Diego.
