2013 Baseball

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The TranSouth Athletic Conference announced earlier this week that Charlie Overturf, a baseball player at Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University, has been selected to receive the 2012 TSAC Dr. LeRoy Walker Champions of Character Award.

The award is named after Dr. Walker, president emeritus of the United States Olympic Committee who served as president through the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games. Dr. Walker is a graduate of Benedict College (S.C.) and a former president of the NAIA. Overturf will represent the TSAC as its nominee for the NAIA award.
 
Charlie Overturf, a six-foot senior pitcher from Palatka, Fla., is a standout student-athlete excelling in the classroom and on the field as a member of the Lion baseball team. The pre-med major is a TranSouth and NAIA scholar-athlete.
 
Charlie's activities outside of the classroom and baseball have included two medical mission trips to Nicaragua, a humanitarian mission trip to Antigua, and antioxidant research with Cancer Research Institute of West Tennessee. He has been accepted by an ecological research team for 2011-12.
 
On the mound the left-handed pitcher has a career record of 10-4 with a 5.38 earned run average. He also has a save. His numbers included 78 strikeouts in 100.1 innings pitched with 47 walks and two complete games in 18 career starts. He has pitched in a total of 30 games for the Lions.
 
Freed-Hardeman baseball coach Jonathan Estes said, "As a coach that has embraced the teaching and display of the core values associated with the Champions of Character program, I can think of no player, past or present, that has so ably exemplified these characteristics. He is a leader on our team, on campus, in the community, and overseas in displaying proper attitude and high character values."
 
Freed-Hardeman chemistry professor Dr. Jerry Thornthwaite said, "In the 15 years that I have been here at FHU, I rank Charlie Overturf as among the very best students, that I have had, if not the top one. I see him always willing to help a fellow student even though I know, as a student-athlete, his time is very precious."