Humble named Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year

Last week, Newfield three-sport athlete Jacob Humble was named ESPN Ithaca’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year at Night of Champions. Humble received a $1,000 scholarship from Visions Federal Credit Union for winning the award.

Humble has been a standout varsity athlete for Newfield since his freshman year and has had his eyes on Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors for a while.

“This is an award that I’ve been keeping track of, who’s won over the past couple of years,” Humble said. “It’s definitely an incredible honor and means a lot. I’ve been wanting to win it for a while now.”

Humble’s senior year was impacted greatly by COVID-19, condensing his final three athletic seasons into a few months. There were also no postseasons for the successful basketball and football teams he led.

“It was definitely a challenge, not even that it was just a long time off, but once we got back, everything just being so different with no fans,” Humble said. “When we got fans, there were only two per player, and all the COVID tests that had to go on and players missing games. I was fortunate enough to play. Me and my teammates, after having a whole year of not seeing each other and playing together, we bounced back into things pretty quickly, and it felt great to be back out there with them.”

The quick sequence from one season to the next this year was made even tougher by having basketball come before football rather than the opposite transition seen in normal years.

“It wasn’t much different for me for baseball because we normally make a pretty deep run in the postseason for basketball, so I’m normally already missing a week or two of baseball,” Humble said. “That wasn’t too different. But football in March right after basketball was probably the biggest challenge. Just taking my mindset from basketball to football in the spring was very different.”

Those deep postseason runs in basketball were memorable, with Humble being a member of two Section IV Championship-winning teams. Taking part in meaningful postseason basketball as a freshman is the experience that Humble remembers most.

“My freshman year, making the state semifinal game [stands out],” he said. “Even though we ended up losing, just coming out and seeing all that green and white in the stands — I think it was nine busloads of students — just the whole community support behind you was crazy. It was one of the best things.”

This year ended with Humble’s first full baseball season since freshman year, as he suffered an ankle injury his sophomore year and COVID canceled his junior season. He went on to impress with a .458 batting average and 17 stolen bases in his final athletic season at Newfield.

“To be honest, baseball wasn’t really my thing,” Humble said. “But coach [Jeff Augustine] convinced me to play back in eighth and ninth grade, and I’ve been on varsity since ninth grade. He made me the leadoff batter because of my ability to get on first base — whether it’s singles, walks, hit by pitches — and then I usually take second and third right after that. That’s just my athleticism from basketball and football. I picked up the hitting as the years came on.”

Humble had great seasons in basketball and baseball but really impressed in football, winning ESPN Ithaca’s Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year award as well. He tallied 21 touchdowns in the shortened five-game season and will be playing at St. John Fisher College in the fall. He discussed the recruiting process.

“At first, St. John Fisher was a little too small for me,” Humble said. “It was one of the first schools I talked to, but they grew on me as I went on. I talked to almost all the Empire 8 schools, the Division III schools in New York here, and I liked a lot of them. Cortland, Brockport and St. John Fisher were probably my top three choices, but St. John Fisher ended up being the one. I just have a good connection with the coaches up there, coach [Paul] Vosburgh. I’m looking forward to playing with them.”

The All-State quarterback will be transitioning to wide receiver in college, which he played back in ninth and tenth grade. After leaving a strong legacy behind at Newfield, the future Cardinal gave his advice to current and future Trojans athletes.

“The best piece of advice I can give is definitely don’t take anything for granted,” Humble said. “The four years go by so fast, and a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to play sports after high school. So, cherish all the moments, and take advantage of it.”

Being recognized as a Scholar-Athlete of the Year is a fitting way to end a great multisport athletic career at Newfield for Humble. He will look to build upon his high school success at St. John Fisher College in the fall hoping to strengthen his legacy at Newfield.