Making Him Proud
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is the first of a two-part series that will occur exclusively on TulaneGreenWave.com to celebrate this year's Stephen Martin Scholars during Black History Month.
BY TOM SYMONDS
NEW ORLEANS – Nick Anderson still can’t believe it.
During a Tulane football team meeting, head coach Willie Fritz had an announcement to make while he sat in front of the team on Zoom this past fall. Fritz was just about ready to name the male recipient for the 2020 Stephen Martin Scholars Award.
Anderson remembers the day like it was yesterday, as he sat in the back of the defensive meeting room alongside teammate Ajani Kerr. Both Anderson and Kerr went back-and-forth trying to predict who from the Tulane football team would be honored as the winner.
In the end, both Anderson and Kerr were wrong.
Fritz announced to the team that Anderson was the male recipient of the 2020 Stephen Martin Scholars Award.
“It completely caught me off guard,” Anderson said. “When my name was called, it was just such an honor that everyone thought that highly of me to choose me as the recipient for this award.”
The Stephen Martin Scholars Award honors Stephen Martin, who broke the color barrier in the Southeastern Conference when he played his first baseball contest for Tulane back in 1965.
Recipients of the award must represent the highest level of character and leadership skills while being academically driven and civic-minded.
Anderson checked all those boxes and then some.
“To receive this award just meant a lot,” Anderson said. “To be looked at in that same type of fashion as someone who has the type of characteristics that someone like Stephen Martin stood for was a great feeling.”
Anderson’s selection as a Stephen Martin Scholar completed an impressive 2020 campaign for the Green Wave linebacker.
This past season, he earned national attention on the field following a year in which he was named to the Pro Football Focus (PFF) All-America Third Team. He also earned All-American Athletic Conference honors from PFF and Phil Steele.
Off the field and in the classroom, Anderson has been equally impressive since he joined the Green Wave after one season at Jones Community in Ellisville, Mississippi, posting a 3.5 cumulative grade point average while being named to the honor roll in each semester.
“It really has been a blessing to be able to excel both academically and athletically at such a fine institution,” Anderson said.
Upon winning the award, Anderson knew exactly who he was going to call first to share the good news.
Anderson called his grandfather, George Flaggs Jr.
“I think he was more excited than I was because he has always taught me to go above and beyond,” Anderson said. “For me to tell him that I was the recipient of this award just made his day. He still talks about it to this day and he is just proud of me and what I have been able to accomplish.”
Flaggs is currently the incumbent Mayor of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Prior to becoming mayor, Flaggs was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the 55th district from 1988 to 2013. He also is someone Anderson has looked up to throughout his childhood.
“I’m just trying to follow what he has accomplished,” Anderson said. “He really has set the path ahead of me and I’m just trying to set a good example.”
Anderson, who is studying homeland security with a minor in sociology, certainly hopes to continue his football career in the National Football League following the 2021 season, but he also has a strong career path ahead of him once his playing career comes to a close, as he plans to go into the criminal justice field.
As the newest member of the Stephen Martin Scholars, Anderson is committed to excelling on the field, in the classroom and in the community, while honoring Martin’s legacy.
“I feel like it is my duty as a recipient of the award to get people to understand his story,” Anderson said. “His story definitely needs to be shared, so that people can understand who Stephen Martin is and what he had to endure.”
Martin and his wife, Brigid Cheri Martin, also a Tulane graduate, were married for 43 years and had three children, Stephen Jr., Nicole and Dana. Stephen Jr. and Dana each earned their college degrees from Tulane.
Born Nov. 2, 1946, Martin was a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, earning his bachelor's degree in Latin from Tulane in 1968. He also earned his master's in business administration from Tulane in 1973.
He served his country in the United States Army and retired as the Chief Financial Officer for Tuskegee University in 2012.
For more information on how to make a gift in honor of the Stephen Martin Scholars Award Program please visit GreenWaveClub.com or call the Green Wave Club at (504) 865-5356.
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