SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The Springfield Thunderbirds are proud to announce that Drew Callin has been named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Springfield community during the 2024-25 season.

The winner of the T-Birds Man of the Year honor for a second straight season, Callin continued his steadfast commitment to the Springfield City Library for the third year of the Boomer's Reading Club campaign. After visiting five different Springfield library branches during the 2023-24 season, Callin and the Thunderbirds grew the program to seven branches throughout the 2024-25 season, including two new branches in the Brightwood and Indian Orchard communities.

In addition to Callin's presence, he and the Thunderbirds Foundation collaborated to contribute more than $1,000 worth of supplies and donations to the Library system, which ranged from school supplies and youth activities to diapers and after-school snacks. 

The son of a retired elementary school teacher, Callin carries on his family's commitment of emphasizing the importance of literacy and passion for reading from an early age. Reading Club visits saw a growth in attendance in the program's second year.

In addition to his support of education, Callin has also continued to give back to the game of hockey, spending his downtime this season as a Skills Coach for the South Windsor (CT) youth hockey program, passing along his passion and knowledge of the sport to a new generation of players.
 
Callin is now one of 32 finalists for the AHL’s 2024-25 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award, honoring the overall IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. The league award is named after the former Hershey Bears forward and AHL All-Star who died in 1997 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. The winner of the Yanick Dupré Memorial Award will be announced by the American Hockey League later this month.