Morristown Salutatorian chasing dream to work in professional sports

Morristown High School’s Class of 2025 Salutatorian can finally focus on the next step in his educational journey.

Jacob Hawk will attend Purdue University to study Business Analytics and Information Management. The goal is to work in the front office for a professional basketball organization.

The fourth generation of his family to graduate from Morristown, Hawk has a tremendous amount of respect for his family’s ties to the school and the agriculture community. Athletics, however, has been a big part of his life and he wants to continue to pursue a dream.

“Every kid grows up with a dream of being a professional athlete so this is the closest thing that I can do and work with professional athletes,” said Hawk.

Hawk played soccer, basketball, baseball and golf while at Morristown. His mother, Carmen, is a respected sports official in multiple sports in Indiana. Both helped fuel his desire to be involved in athletics at the next level.

Hawk has not been home much since the end of the school year. His family took a nearly three-week trip to Ireland and Spain after graduation. Upon his return home, he re-packed his suitcase and headed to church camp.

One more quick stopover at home and he was off with friends to Hilton Head, South Carolina, for another adventure.

Now home for the rest of summer, everything on his to-do list brings a wave of nostalgia as this phase of his life ends. He fully expects to feel that way this weekend during Derby Days which includes local scouts racing soapbox derby cars down U.S. 52 Saturday afternoon into downtown Morristown.

“Being able to race back then in Cub Scouts and now just going to watch is a whole different scenario,” he explained. “The thing I remember most (about racing in Derby Days) is just losing. I never won anything. I always blamed the wheels that we used. We never got a good draw.

“It was a really fun experience, though. How many people can say they did a soapbox derby, which is pretty cool in my opinion.”

Jacob Hawk (second from right) was joined at Morristown High School's graduation ceremony by fellow family members and Morristown graduates Carmen Hawk (far left), his mother, Geraldine (Brown) Nigh (second from left), his great grandmother, and Mark Nigh, his grandfather (far right).

Hawk is the fifth in his family to be either valedictorian or salutatorian at Morristown, following Cena (Cole) Chapman in 1942, Paula (Chapman) Nigh in 1972, Ellen (Nigh) Kasik in 1986, and Carey Nigh in 2002.

Hawk’s father, Andrew Hawk, was salutatorian in 1998 at New Haven High School.

Hawk’s suitcase, which has taken some wear and tear this summer, will be needed one more time next month. His move-in date on campus at Purdue is Aug. 17.

“I am more excited than anything, to be independent and carve my own path,” he said.

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