Hank Aaron’s Chasing the Dream Foundation establishes scholarship at UW-Madison

As part of the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation’s efforts at universities around the country, Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Famer Hank Aaron and his wife, Billye, have established an endowed “4 for 4” Scholarship in honor of MLB Commissioner Allan H. “Bud” Selig at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the commissioner’s alma mater.

The first recipient of the UW–Madison “4 for 4” scholarship is Marisa Aronson, a student from Milwaukee who will begin her freshman year at the university this fall. The scholarship is designated for students with financial need from underrepresented groups, with preference for students who have participated in Boys and Girls Club of Milwaukee programs affiliated with the Chasing the Dream Foundation.

“I am very excited to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison this fall,” Aronson says. “I am currently undecided about my major but am interested in international studies. I am extremely thankful to be a recipient of this scholarship. It will definitely relieve some of the financial burden my family and I will experience in the coming years.”

The UW–Madison scholarship was established through the Dream Chaser Fund with the Greater Milwaukee Foundation. The Chasing the Dream Foundation in time will fund 12 such “4 for 4” scholarships at colleges and universities across the United States. The scholarship name references the 12 times in his baseball career that Aaron went 4-for-4 at the plate.

The foundation is endowing four-year scholarships for the benefit of deserving youngsters who have chosen to pursue their dreams by attending college. With particular emphasis on prior dream chasers who have now reached college age, Hank and Billye have introduced their second perpetual program by offering, in addition to the UW–Madison scholarship in honor of Selig, two scholarships at Morehouse College and one each at Texas College, Billye’s alma mater, in honor of Bishop Marshall Gilmore and Mrs. Lillie Claybon; and Fisk University.

The goal is to create 12 perpetual scholarships at a number of colleges and universities that will be granted each year to further assist dream chasers realize the goals they might otherwise never achieve. The scholarships represent the latest installment in the 15-year-old foundation, which Hank and Billye Aaron started to begin giving back to the children they believed were most at risk of never having a chance to dream or not having anyone who wanted to help them get a start in life.

The 4 for 4 Scholarship program, which will be administered by the selected schools, was, according to Billye Aaron, “a natural choice to extend our support to dream chasers new and old, as they enter the next stage of their lives.”

After achieving the original goal of assisting 755 children, MLB and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America joined the foundation’s efforts and created the “44 Forever” program, which was endowed by MLB and will be administered by the Boys and Girls Clubs, in perpetuity.

“Billye and I have been blessed with a great many friends who were there for us during our lives and now join us in our efforts to help young people become more than even they can imagine,” says Hank Aaron. “It is so rewarding to know that children will continue to benefit from 44 Forever and 4 for 4 long after we are gone. We hope they will remember us for this work, not just for the records I set on the field.”

Billye Aaron adds, “I am particularly grateful to Major League Baseball and to the Boys and Girls Clubs for their support and their deep and genuine desire to create better tomorrows for the generations of dream chasers to follow.”