SANFORD Fla.- In 2018, the Florida League established the Randy Harvey Umpire of the Year Award to honor the historic achievements and contributions to our league and college baseball of Randy Harvey, who passed away in 2020 after a five-year battle with a rare kidney disease. The award is designed to recognize an umpire who embodies the professionalism, excellent judgment and spirit of the award's namesake.

The 2025 Randy Harvey Umpire of the Year award winner showed the same respect for the game that Randy did, and is one of the most respected umpires in the Florida League. The 2025 winner for the Florida League's Randy Harvey Award is Matthew Schaeffer.

Florida League Umpire Coordinator Scooter Morrison stated that Schaeffer is the kind of umpire that fans, coaches, players, and colleagues can consistently count on.

He’s the kind of umpire who just shows up every night, does his job, and does it well," Morrison said. "When you’re on the field with Matt, you know you don’t have to do his job for him; he’s dependable, professional, and takes care of both the crew and the game."

Schaeffer is one of the most decorated umpires in the Florida League, bringing decades of experience to the field. Schaeffer has umpired at the professional level, and has worked collegiately in some of the nation's top conferences, such as the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, American, and Conference USA.

In the Florida League, Schaeffer consistently draws some of the League's premiere assignments, such as working multiple Florida League Championship Series games during his tenure.

Morrison also added that Schaeffer is a worthy recipient of an award baring the name of Randy Harvey, and spotlighted the same respect for the game that Harvey had.

"Like Randy, Matt just comes to work every night and does his job, and like Randy, he guards the game," Morrison remarked. "He understands that nobody’s perfect, but that we can all work the game and play it the right way; Matt is incredibly deserving of this award and a great representative of the Randy Harvey spirit of umpiring"

Dowdy is the seventh recipient of the Randy Harvey Umpire of the Year award. He joins Randy Harvey, Charles Reddick, Kevin Flay, Eric Steiner, and Sean Blackketter, and John Dowdy as the award's recipients.

ABOUT RANDY HARVEY

Randy Harvey had an impact on the Florida League far more than any umpire ever has or likely ever will.

Harvey, a Sanford native, had a storied umpiring career. Like most umpires, Randy began umpiring at the Little League level. His time there was short-lived as he quickly ascended the umpire ranks. He has an impressive resume of experience. Randy umpired Conference USA for 2 years, the Sun Belt Conference and the A-Sun Conference for 10+ years. He umpired SEC and ACC games for over 15 years and worked 13 NCAA Division I Regionals and Super-Regionals, 4 ACC Tournaments and 4 SEC Tournaments. He worked countless Florida League games over 15 years and umpired the Division I College World Series in 2006 and the Division II World Series. To top it all off, Randy umpired Major League Baseball games twice during the umpire strikes in 1991 and 1995.

Throughout his career Randy epitomized what it meant to serve as a collegiate umpire. He was known for his professionalism and excellent judgment. He took immense pride in his work and always treated coaches and players with respect. He also had a huge heart for the game of baseball and those participating in it. Harvey always had a genuine concern about the players and umpires who he shared the field with. Their safety and well-being was always a focus of his. When you talked to him off the field, he always asked how you were doing and loved hearing stories about players whose games he umpired in years past. You got the notion that he felt as if he was a part of their development into professionals.

From 2015 to his passing in 2020, Randy battled a rare kidney disease. After being forced off of the field for some time, Randy was preparing to work a full collegiate schedule in the spring of 2018 when sudden complications from the disease forced doctors to amputate both of his legs, ending his umpiring career. Eventually, doctors amputated both of his arms. In true Randy Harvey spirit, he has never complained and cared more about how his fellow umpires, players and coaches are doing more-so than himself. He passed away in September of 2020.