Freed-Hardeman University’s men’s soccer student-athlete Tyson Campbell has been named the 2024-25 Mid-South Conference Male Character First Award recipient, MSC officials announced on Friday.
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Campbell was selected for the honor by the conference’s character committee. Each full-member institution is permitted to nominate one male and one female coach from their staff for the honor.
“The five core values of respect, responsibility, integrity, sportsmanship, and servant leadership are very important to me and what I value as a person,” Campbell said. “These values were taught to me at an early age through my parents and what I learned at church.
“My parents, who are public school teachers and coaches, have always demonstrated these five core values to their students and players,” Campbell added. “At church, I familiarized myself with the Bible, and it contains many passages that discuss these five core values individually.”
Campbell was Freed-Hardeman men’s soccer representative on the Mid-South Conference Champions of Character Team. He was also the Lions’ Best Christian Example Recipient and a Phi Kappa Alpha Service Project Leader.
“Tyson’s strengths include being self-motivated, taking responsibility, organized, and the ability to work effectively with different personalities,” Freed-Hardeman Dean of Student Life Tony Allen said. “Tyson has a humble nature about him. He doesn’t flaunt his strengths or abilities. He simply puts his head down and does the work.”
Campbell volunteers at his church and was a member of the Dominican Republic mission trip with the Red Bank Church of Christ. He spent two years as a counselor and coordinator at the Mid-South Youth Camp.
“Tyson is the player on the team that you can count on to lead team prayers and devotionals, and all of his teammates respect him because of his character and behavior on and off the field,” Freed-Hardeman men’s soccer head coach Jason Elliott said. “He puts the team above himself, and several times has come to me and said he wants what is best for the team, and if that means he doesn’t play or start in a match, he is fine with that.”
Campbell helped the Lions to an 11-6-2 record during the 2024 men’s soccer season. He earned Academic All Mid-South Conference honors while being named the Dryden Hustle Award Recipient.
He is scheduled to be the 2025-26 FHU Men’s Soccer Graduate Assistant Coach.
“The five core values will help me succeed in the future because they have helped me in my college experience,” Campbell said. “My goal was never to pursue an award or gain recognition from my peers; my goal was and has always been to love others and to glorify God through my actions. I hope that in my short time at Freed-Hardeman, I have made an effort to do that.”
