BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Atlantic University baseball senior catcher Nicholas Toney received the Conference USA Spring Spirit of Service award on Tuesday. The award honors student-athletes with significant community service endeavors, good academic standing and participation in their sport.
The Spirit of Service Award is presented three times throughout the season, with Tuesday’s honorees representing baseball, men’s and women’s golf, outdoor track and field, softball, men’s and women’s tennis and beach volleyball. Recipients are nominated by their institutions.
Toney was a four-year member of the FAU baseball program before graduating in May with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science. The Royal Palm Beach, Fla. native accumulated over 20 hours of community service this year and over 40 throughout his career. He worked with AD Henderson, a local elementary school, beach clean ups, Boca Little League, Project Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive, and the Big Dog Ranch. He has also been one of the SAAC reps for FAU the past two years.
“I don’t know if there’s a finer human that has ever played here,” noted FAU head baseball coach John McCormack. “I can’t say enough good things about him and about the impact he’s made on my life in terms of his ability to just keep working and doing the right thing.”
On the field, Toney was named a co-captain prior to the start of the season and went on to play in 26 games with 18 starts behind the plate. He hit .258 with two home runs and 10 RBI. In his four year career, he made just three errors in 468 career chances.
Toney joins football senior Chaz Neal (fall release) and swimming and diving junior Kirsten Hobson (winter release) as FAU’s Spirit of Service representatives for the 2021-22 academic year.
