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This year\, we will celebrate the recipients of the Business of the Year\, Small Business of the Year\, the Forrest Glewwe Service Excellence and the Rising Star awards. The day will start with a Trade Show to network with your chamber and community colleagues\, followed by a luncheon\, awards ceremony to recognize and honor the award recipients and Keynote Speaker\, Charley Walters.
\nBio:
\nCharles Leonard Walters is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Minnesota Twins in 1969 and is currently a sports columnist and reporter for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press newspaper. \;
\nWalters had graduated from high school in 1965 and was playing Legion ball when his high school'\;s assistant principal called to notify him that the Minnesota Twins were having an open tryout. Walters doubted that he would get a second look\, but went to the tryout anyway. The Twins'\; chief scout\, Angelo Giuliani\, liked Walters'\; arm and team executive Joe Haynes offered Walters $400 per month and a $500 signing bonus to play minor league baseball. It took Walters four years to rise to the major leagues. In 1969 Twins manager Billy Martin elected to keep Walters on the team\, and star player Bob Allison gave Walters the nickname "\;Big Shooter\,"\; which was later shortened to "\;Shooter."\; \;