By Dustin Semore
FHU Information Director
On April 25 the Lions and Lady Lions traded their jerseys for suits and dresses as the Freed-Hardeman Universty athletic department honored their student-athletes with the second annual Roar Awards.
The student-athletes and the athletic staff as well as family and friends joined in a meal before each team recognized three student-athletes. Voted by their teammates, each team selected a “Best Teammate,” “Best Christian Example,” and “Team MVP” honoree. Capping off the celebrations, the athletic training department honored three student-athletes before the top four awards were announced. The sports medicine department honored Haley Suggs as the “Workhorse,” Devin Tomlinson as “Diligent Dan,” and Brinley Cousar as “Overcomer.”
“The Roar Awards are special because it is all about the student-athletes,” said FHU Director of Athletics Jonathan Estes. “We have some of the best student-athletes in the world. They embody the spirit and attitudes that we want in our families, in our churches, in our communities and in our world. We want to honor their commitment to the classroom, their commitment to each other, their commitment to the Lord and their commitment to their sport.”
Voted by the coaches and athletic staff, women’s basketball’s KJ White was selected as the Outstanding Female Student-Athlete. Completing her senior campaign, White was chosen as the Mid-South Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. White Averaged 7.9 points per game while grabbing a team-high 4.8 rebounds per game. Defensively, White tallied a team-high 60 steals and eight blocks.
Men’s basketball’s Quan Lax was honored as Outstanding Male Student-Athlete. Adding to a list of accolades that included first-team All-NAIA tournament, first-team All-America, first-team All-MSC, and MSC tournament Most Valuable Player. As part of a two-point guard system, Lax averaged a team-high 13.3 points per game. As the top offensive producer, Lax also dished out 125 assists the top mark in the Mid-South Conference.
For the Oustanding Invididual Achievement, the staff voted for baseball’s Colton Huntt. Against Cumberland (Tenn.) University, Huntt tallied his career’s 300th strikeout, becoming just the fourth member of the triple-century club.
Finishing the night of accolades was the Charlie Smith Heart of a Lion Award. Estes explains the award, “The Charlie Smith Heart of a Lion award is the highest honor an FHU athlete can achieve. The winner embodies everything we want our student-athletes to aspire to: servant leaders that display a dogged determination to achieve no matter what situation they find themselves in. [Former FHU athletic director and coach] Charlie Smith was the embodiment of that spirit for decades in the athletic department.”
Men’s basketball’s Hunter Scurlock was voted as the 2024 recipient. Scurlock was chosen as the NAIA Tournament’s Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player after helping the Lions win their first national championship. Scurlock averaged 9.9 points per game while grabbing 5.1 rebounds per game his senior season. Scurlock led the conference with 75 steals and had the fourth-most blocks in the league with 30. “Hunter showed that tenacity and grit that inspires those around him,” said Estes. “He developed into a leader that was the glue that held everyone together on a magical run to a National Championship.”
