Editing Jason Varitek (section)

==High school and college==
Varitek was [[Lake Brantley High School]]'s third baseman and relief catcher. In 1990, the Patriots won the state championship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fhsaa.org/records/rec_ba.pdf |title=History of Florida State Champions |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227234431/http://www.fhsaa.org/records/rec_ba.pdf |archive-date=February 27, 2008 }}</ref>

Varitek attended [[Georgia Institute of Technology|Georgia Tech]], where he helped lead the [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball|Yellow Jackets baseball team]] to the [[1994 College World Series]] title game, along with future Red Sox teammates [[Nomar Garciaparra]] and [[Jay Payton]] (they lost to the [[Oklahoma Sooners baseball|University of Oklahoma]]). In 1994, he received the [[Baseball America College Player of the Year Award|''Baseball America'' College Player of the Year Award]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Georgia Tech's Varitek nabs player of the year award|newspaper=The Charlotte Observer|date=June 3, 1994}}</ref> and won the [[Dick Howser Trophy]] for National Collegiate Player of the Year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pNogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UWsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4029,4338332&dq=jason-varitek+dick-howser&hl=en|title=Varitek receives Howser award|agency=Associated Press|page=12|newspaper=McCook Daily Gazette|date=June 8, 1994|access-date=October 1, 2012}}</ref> Varitek graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in management and is the only Tech baseball player to have his number (33) retired.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wrdw.com/2020/08/07/varitek-headlines-college-baseball-hall-of-fame-2020-class/ |title=Varitek Headlines College Baseball Hall of Fame 2020 Class |publisher=Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |website=[[WRDW-TV]] |date=August 6, 2020 |accessdate=August 8, 2021}}</ref>

In 1991 and 1993, Varitek played [[collegiate summer baseball]] in the [[Cape Cod Baseball League]] (CCBL) for the [[Hyannis Mets]]. In 1993, he hit .371 for Hyannis, won the league batting title, and was named the league's MVP. In 2002, he was inducted into the [[Cape Cod Baseball League#Hall of Fame and Museum|CCBL Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|date=June 9, 2002|title=Twelve Legends to be inducted into CCBL Hall of Fame|url=http://capecodbaseball.org/news/hofnews/?article_id=241|access-date=August 3, 2019|website=Cape Cod Baseball|publisher=}}</ref> Varitek was a member of the [[United States national baseball team|U.S. national baseball team]] at the [[Baseball at the 1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Summer Olympics]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83080145/varitek-headed-to-the-olympics/ |title=Varitek headed to the Olympics |newspaper=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |page=C-1 |date=July 15, 1992 |accessdate=August 8, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>