MARSHALL, Texas – For the second time in three years, East Texas Baptist University has been awarded the American Southwest Conference’s Man of the Year Award. The 2025 recipient of the ASC award is men’s tennis student-athlete Slade Austin. He joins Jake Miller as the only two ETBU male student-athletes to be given the award.

The ASC started the Man of the Year award in 2022 and is presented annually to a graduated male student-athlete who compiled the most outstanding record in academic achievement, athletic excellence, and service and leadership throughout their undergraduate collegiate career. Member institutions may nominate one individual for each award within the stated criteria and the process outlined by the Conference staff. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an ASC-sponsored sport; must earn his undergraduate degree by the end of the institution’s summer term of the academic year; carry a minimum 3.00 undergraduate grade-point average; and provide a personal statement of their experience as a scholar, athlete, and leader on campus. The Council of Senior Woman Administrators will determine the award recipients.

Below is the ASC release on Austin and his accomplishments.

Austin, a men’s tennis program graduate student, holds a 4.00 GPA while pursuing a Master of Business Administration. The Arlington, Texas native graduated in 2024 with a 3.82 GPA with a Bachelor of Business Administration with minors in Finance and Accounting and was Magna Cum Laude. Austin was the 2025 ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete for Tennis, a four-time Academic All-ASC selection, a CSC Academic All-District selection in 2024, a four-time ITA Scholar-Athlete, and a three-time ITA Team Academic Award recipient. He was a two-time All-ASC Doubles Flight 3 Selection, a 2023 All-ASC East Division Doubles Flight 3 selection, a 2023 All-ASC East Division Second Team Singles Flight 6 honoree, and a 2022 All-ASC East Division Second Team Doubles Flight 1 selection. While at ETBU, Austin was on the President’s List from 2021-2025, was a part of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society, and the CMS Program Scholarship Institute of Management Accountants. He helped the Tigers to their first ASC Men’s Tennis Championship title this season and earned their first trip to the NCAA Championship Tournament.

Austin was active on campus and in the community at ETBU. He assisted with the Community Tennis Clinic in Wills Point and participated in Operation Christmas Child all four years. Austin volunteered with tornado cleanup in Gilmer, Mission Marshall, Mission Arlington, and Pet Place, helping animals. He also assisted at the Marshall Trunk or Treat Event and participated in ETBU Serve Day. On campus, he was a four-year Fellowship of Christian Athletes member, a Resident Assistant of Fry Hall, and a Resident Manager in the ETBU dorms. Austin’s leadership stood out as he was the tennis team’s captain and the resident director of Fry Hall.

Austin has played four seasons with ETBU. This season, he went 8-8 in singles and 14-2 in doubles, ranking first for doubles wins in the conference and second in program history. Austin’s doubles wins came in a 13-match winning streak as he guided the Tigers to their first-ever Conference Title and NCAA appearance. In 2024, Austin went 12-5 in singles and 9-3 in doubles to help ETBU to the program’s first ASC East Division Regular Season Championship Title. That year the Tigers were ASC Tournament runners-up, and he earned All-Tournament Team honors. In 2023, Austin helped the team win a program-best 10 matches. All four years of his career, the Tigers qualified for the ASC Championship Tournament.