Nick Denbo, Austin College, Baseball - Character & Community

Nick Denbo, Austin College, Baseball - Character & Community

NICK DENBO OF AUSTIN COLLEGE, a sophomore pitcher on the baseball team from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., has been selected the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Character and Community Male Student Athlete of the Week for the week beginning November 6.

The SCAC Character & Community award honors the efforts of student-athletes who excel in the field of athletics, and also serve their campus and community.



Austin College baseball player Nick Denbo always knew he wanted to serve his country. It’s been a family tradition crossing virtually every generation, and it led him to enlisting with the 82nd Airborne Division and serving deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

His service is also one of the reasons he wound up attending Austin College, having served with fellow Austin College baseball and football player Ben Meraz both while they were coming up through training at Fort Liberty, now known as Fort Bragg, all the way through their time overseas. The friendship and camaraderie they forged helped lead Nick to the ‘Roos.

His time serving in the United States Army, where he achieved the rank of sergeant, impacted Denbo in a number of ways, including influencing the way he approaches the sport he loves and the way he interacts with his teammates. After enlisting in 2017, he deployed to Iraq in 2020 and Afghanistan in 2021, where he helped oversee the evacuation of American troops when Iranian-backed militias attempted to storm the US Embassy in Baghdad. He credits his time as a sergeant, and working through such harrowing and life-threatening situations, to helping shape him as a better leader.

Home from his time serving overseas, Nick has become a vital and active member of the Austin College athletics family, not only as a pitcher on the ‘Roo baseball team, but also as a student athletic trainer. The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native has aided numerous Austin College athletics teams in that capacity throughout his time in Sherman, quickly becoming one of the athletics department’s top students in that area. While he only notched one appearance on the mound last season, he’ll be looking to make a bigger impact for the ‘Roos this season, though his contributions to the department as a whole, and even more importantly, to his country have already made him an invaluable and highly-respected member of the Austin College family.

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