Nick Dean

Nick Dean devoted his summers for nearly 20 years to playing the game of baseball. He played the game at all levels from T-ball to the pros, from the sandlots of Mineral Bluff, Georgia to the immaculately manicured fields in the minor league outposts of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Ogden, Utah, Midlands, Michigan and Rancho Cucamonga, California. When asked about early influences in his life and career, Nick immediately responds “My dad Tom, always my dad”. In the presence of Tom and Nick, one feels a palpable sense of love and admiration, the son for the father and the father for the son. Tom, who played every sport available to him at East Fannin High School, coached Nick’s teams in youth and travel baseball until Nick reached the level where his coaches were paid employees, not volunteers. At Fannin County High School Nick played football and baseball from 2006 through 2010. He was the starting quarterback and defensive safety for the Rebel football team for three seasons. Fannin ran a triple option offense and Nick piled up some big rushing numbers while leading his teams to records of 9-2, 7-3 and 6-4. He was fast and elusive and was the prototypical field general for this type of offense. He earned All-Region honors three times and was named Football Player of the Decade for the 2000-2010 period. Most importantly to Nick, his teams defeated arch-rival Gilmer County all three years that he played. Nick was the leadoff hitter for the Fannin baseball team, playing in the outfield, shortstop and did some pitching during his four years. Shortstop was his primary home in the field. As a senior in 2010, he batted for an average of .414, smacked five home runs, six doubles and stole 11 bases. On the mound, he logged 53 innings pitched and posted an ERA of 2.77 with 85 strikeouts. Four days after his graduation from high school in 2010, Nick signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee. Maryville is a top tier academic institution and its athletic teams compete in NCAA Division III, USA South Athletic Conference. Nick’s baseball career at Maryville was a veritable four year highlight reel. He was injured and redshirted one season but played four full seasons. When the dust settled in 2015, he was the school all-time leader in hits with 247, career batting average at .401, on base percentage at .451 and slugging average of .575. In his junior season of 2014, Nick led the conference in hitting with a .434 batting average and a .600 slugging average. He was named to the All-Conference team and the All-South Division III team for the third consecutive year. The topper was his selection as the USA South Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Nick’s numbers and accomplishments in 2015 were nothing short of remarkable. He led the nation in hits with 74 and batted at a .454 clip. He was selected as the South Division III Player of the Year by D3baseball.com and by the American Baseball Coaches Association. He was again chosen as the conference Player of the Year. The crown jewel of Nick’s college career came when the American Baseball Coaches Association made him a first team All-American selection, the initial first team selection in Maryville College history. Following graduation from Maryville, Nick Dean was chosen by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2015 baseball draft. He played in the Dodger organization for two seasons suiting up for the Ogden, Utah Raptors, the Great Lakes Loons and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. He hung up his spikes at the age of 24 following the 2016 season. He would have been 25 if he had returned for another season in 2017. Nick has no regrets about leaving the ultra demanding world of professional baseball. His route through the minor leagues was uncertain and would have consumed a few more years of his youth. Nick points out that all players in professional baseball are very talented and that the difference in skill levels among most players is slight. The level of commitment, existence of available alternative life styles and life objectives, however, vary widely from player to player. Many players, particularly the Latin players, see baseball as the only way to escape poverty and social unrest in their native countries. The Dodgers sponsor a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic devoted primarily to honing the skills of young men who begin the program in their early teens and play the game year round. Many of Nick’s competitors for playing time and advancement were teens whose entire lives were devoted to baseball. So Nick Dean is now happily settled at home in Fannin County with his beautiful wife Logan and two adorable children, daughter Lennon (age 4) and son McKenzie (age 2). Nick is a firefighter in Gwinnett County and Logan works as an ER nurse at Northside Cherokee Hospital in Canton. They currently live in McCaysville but plan to build a house on a 4-acre plot of North Georgia soil in Epworth within the friendly confines of Fannin County.