ACCC Player of the Year Jackson Hesterlee of Southern Union added one more piece of hardware to the trophy case as he was named the Alabama Sports Writers Association (ASWA) Community College Athlete of the Year. Hesterlee was presented his awarded at the ASWA Awards Banquet in Birmingham.
Hesterlee graduated from Carrollton High School, Georgia, in 2015 where he excelled in athletics, academics and community service. Jackson was an Honor Graduate with Distinction with a 4.0 GPA and was ranked 7th in his class of 338. In high school, he was very active and successful in his academic career. He was a 4-year member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish Honor Society and the Beta Club. Jackson also won the Literary and Composition Award, the Accelerated Math Award, the Georgia Certificate of Merit, and the PC Fellow Award. He was named Honor Martial and Outstanding Senior. Hesterlee was also very involved in the community and when any of his club or church affiliations were doing community service, Jackson was always willing to serve. He is a member of the Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church, a CHS Booster Club Volunteer, and a Carroll County Soup Kitchen Volunteer. Not only was Hesterlee an outstanding student but also excelled in baseball and football. He earned the Varsity Baseball Letter for 3 years and was named Team Captain, made All-Region, All State, and received the Academic Award twice. In football, Jackson earned 4 Varsity letters and was named All Region. He was a member of the Georgia Northwest All-Star Team and earned the Academic Award for four years. Because of Jackson's all-around outstanding high school performances, he was granted the prestigious Charlie Grisham Scholarship.
After high school, Jackson chose baseball as the sport to continue in college. He signed with Southern Union State Community College and began an impressive junior college career. Academically Jackson was an exceptional student and graduated with an Associate in Science Degree with a 4.0 GPA. He was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and the Mu Alpha Theta Honor Society. Athletically, Jackson led the state of Alabama (Region 22) in hitting, batting .420. In 2017, Hesterlee was ACCC All-North Division (North Player of the Year), All-Region 22, Region 22 Player of the Year, won the ACCC Gold Glove and was named ACCC Player of the Week batting over .700 for the week. Jackson was among the top 10 leaders in the state in the number of runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, walks, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Jackson Hesterlee has signed an athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill where he plans to obtain an undergraduate degree from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Jackson Hesterlee (right) and Southern Union Head Coach Joe Jordan (left)