Hovde Earns Helen Corbitt Awards for Excellence
IRVING, Texas – Nicolas Hovde (Waco, Texas) from the University of Dallas baseball team was awarded the Helen Corbitt Awards for Excellence.
The Helen Corbitt Awards for Excellence recognize a senior woman and a senior man who have produced an outstanding body of work during their time at the university. Students nominated for the award demonstrate excellence in academic pursuits, in student activities and in general service. Helen Corbitt was a gifted chef and nutritionist, receiving many awards and accolades during her life, and was a good friend and benefactor to the University of Dallas.
Hovde fully embodies the spirit of the Corbitt award, as a student and as an athlete. His leadership in the classroom is reflected both by the grades he receives --- he's been on the Dean's list every semester at UD --- as well as his creativity in the projects he tackles in the classroom. The Corbitt portfolio he submitted for consideration of this award contained an essay on Frederick Douglass written for his American Civilization class, as well as a term paper for his Social Justice course that pondered the question whether college and professional sport impede or promote a college education. It also included code in Python, and a statistical analysis of data that was collected by his athletics coach on his bat swing.
Of course, all these academic accomplishments were done in time around the hours he spent on the playing field, on the road during travel season, or in the batting cage working on that swing. His hard work and balance between his academics and his athletics earned him recognition as a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National All-Academic Team in 2017, 2018, and 2019. He is the only Crusader in the baseball program to be named all three years eligible, which requires a minimal 3.5 GPA. Hovde has also been on the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Spring Student-Athlete Academic Honor Roll in 2017, 2018, 2019, and projects to make it in 2020 when the list is released next month. Hovde also was named to the SCAC Baseball All-Sportsmanship Team this spring by head coach Erik Grafton.
Hovde started all 16 games this season for the Crusaders before the cancellation and was on pace for a career year. Hovde knocked 12 hits with three for doubles. He clubbed his first collegiate home run and ranked second on the squad with a personal-best seven stolen bases. He scored nine runs and drove in five runs.
Hovde majored in business and had a concentration in marketing.