FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State's Kaleb Hammeke was named to the 2025 Trevor Hudgins Award Top 25 Watch List by Small College Basketball on February 1, which honors a player's career accomplishments. Hammeke has also been named to the Top 100 Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award a second-straight year, awarded annually to the best Small College Basketball player for a single-season.
Created in 2023 and first awarded following the 2023-24 season, the Trevor Hudgins Award is presented annually to the senior who has had the finest overall career within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be overall career statistics and achievements, team achievements, awards, and personal character. The player must have played their entire career at the small college level.
Arguably one of the best Small College Basketball players ever, Trevor Hudgins led Northwest Missouri State University to three consecutive NCAA Division II National Championships (2019, 2021, 2022). This marked the first time in Division II history that a school won three-straight national championships. During his career, Hudgins helped the Bearcats to four straight MIAA regular season championships and a 131-8 record in his collegiate career. Hudgins was named the NCAA Division II National Player of the Year back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022. He holds both the NWMSU scoring and assist records and finished his career with 2,829 points, the all-time leading scorer in the MIAA. He was named the MIAA Player of the Year in three straight seasons from 2020 to 2022. In 2022, Hudgins was named the Small College Basketball Bevo Francis Award winner, signifying the top small college basketball player in the United States.
Hammeke is plenty familiar with the namesake of this award, having competed against Hudgins in the MIAA. Hammeke was the MIAA Freshman of the Year in 2020-21, the same year Hudgins earned his first MIAA Player of the Year honor. Flash forward to present day, Hammeke is now a four-time All-MIAA selection for Fort Hays State, including first-team honors the last two seasons (2022-23, 2023-24).
Hammeke recently became the all-time leading scorer at Fort Hays State on January 9, breaking Alonzo Goldston's mark of 1,766 set in 1997. As of February 2, Hammeke has 1,850 career points. He also has 525 assists and 525 rebounds to go with his all-time scoring record at FHSU and became the only player in the history of the program to reach both 500 assists and 500 rebounds in a career. He is the only active player in NCAA Division II with at least 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists in a career and shares that distinction with five players in NCAA Division I. Hammeke and RJ Davis from the University of North Carolina are the only two players of the six to play their entire collegiate career at one school.
Hammeke is one of just nine players from NCAA Division II among the Top 25 Watch List for the Trevor Hudgins Award. The list also includes nine student-athletes from NCAA Division III and seven from the NAIA. Hammeke is the only player from the MIAA among the list this year.
Hammeke helped Fort Hays State win at least 20 games each of the last three years, which included 23 in 2021-22, 21 in 2022-23, and 23 again in 2023-24. Including the 2024-25 season so far, Fort Hays State has an overall record of 91-41 in Hammeke's career. Hammeke is the sixth four-time all-conference performer in the history of FHSU Men's Basketball, but just the second during the program's NCAA Division II history.
KJ Jones of Emmanuel University (Ga.), a member of NCAA Division II, was the first-ever recipient of the Trevor Hudgins Award in 2024. Jones finished his career at Emmanuel with 3,111 points and was the NABC and D2CCA National Player of the Year for 2023-24.