Tharptown’s Kelby Hallmark was recently offered a full scholarship to play baseball at Lawson State. | File photo

By Bart Moss and Brady Petree

For the FCT

Kelby Hallmark has been a fixture in the Tharptown High School athletic program for the past few years.

If there was a leadership role on the team, Hallmark occupied the spot – quarterback on the football team, point guard on the basketball team, shortstop and pitcher on the baseball diamond.

Through it all he had one goal – earn a scholarship to continue his education and keep playing ball.

Although he put up great numbers in each sport, the one sport that gave him a realistic chance to earn a scholarship was baseball, but it still didn’t come easy.

Hallmark didn’t get any immediate offers. Even though he had a remarkable career at Tharptown, Hallmark faced many tough questions about his size and the quality of competition he had played against at the 1A level.

So this summer, he set out to prove the skeptics wrong.

Hallmark spent his whole summer going to college tryouts, playing American Legion baseball with Division 1 prospects, and hoping there would be at least one coach who could see his true potential.

“It was a little nerve-wrecking. Getting this late in the year without a call made me feel like I wasn’t good enough” said Hallmark, who batted .432 with 37 RBI’s in his senior season and led the Tharptown Wildcats to their 3^rd straight state tournament berth.

But last Sunday, while Hallmark was sitting with his family, the phone rang and all of the adversity dissolved away. It was the head baseball coach for Lawson State, Doug Kovash, and he was offering Hallmark the chance to fulfill his dreams by offering him a full scholarship to play his favorite sport.

“He came and watched me pitch in mid-July, which gave me the idea that I might get a call from him, and luckily I did,” Hallmark said.

Tharptown baseball coach Griffin Harris said he knew it was just a matter of time before Hallmark got this opportunity.

“I am extremely proud of Kelby,” Harris said.

“Being a three sport athlete, he never had time to focus on just one sport. But I knew all season that he had what it takes.

“His ability to lead really stood out to me. I remember one time last season, we had lost a few in a row and our record had gotten down to around 3-12. One day during seventh period he took the team out to the field, without any of the coaching staff, and to this day I have no idea what was said, but after that we rattled off a 10-game win streak. The guys looked up to him and I know it will carry on to college with him.”

Hallmark praised Coach Harris for helping him focus on the little things and giving him this opportunity.

“Coach Harris has helped me a lot this year, from helping me improve my fundamentals, to carrying me to tryouts,” Hallmark said.

Hallmark said he tries to model his play after some of his favorite professional baseball players like Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout.

“I really love the way Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout play the game”, he said.

“Kershaw gives his team the best chance to win the game every time he takes the mound. He and Trout both play the game the way it is meant to be played.”

Hallmark will be the first male athlete to sign a full athletic scholarship from Tharptown High School.