ALFRED, NY – Toby Hale (Swampscott, MA/Swampscott) has been selected as the Empire 8 Athletic Conference Featured Student-Athlete of the Month for September.
Hale, a junior defensive end on the Alfred University football team, has been an integral part of the Saxons’ success during his two-plus seasons in the Purple and Gold.
In his career to date (9/16/16), Hale has amassed 36 tackles (21 solo, 15 assisted), including 6 ½ for loss (six sacks). He also has four career fumble recoveries and a forced fumble, all accumulated during his sophomore season of 2015, his first year as a starter.
The Saxons ended the 2015 season with a win over Fitchburg State in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Robert M. “Scotty” Whitelaw Bowl Championship game. Hale had the lone sack for the Saxons in that game and totaled four solo tackles with two assists.
“Toby is an outstanding young man,” said Alfred Head Coach Robert Rankl. “He is well respected by the coaching staff as well as his teammates. He is a leader on our defense of line and his looked up to by many of his peers.”
Hale set his sacks, loss of yards (from sacks), tackles for a loss and loss of yards (from tackles) against Hartwick College last season as well. The then-sophomore finished the game with five tackles (two solo, three assisted), including three tackles for a loss of 15 yards and 2 ½ sacks for a loss of 14 yards.
Hale originally came to Alfred University as a glass science engineering student-athlete. After deciding that major was not for him, Hale joined the newly-formed program offered to Alfred University student-athletes involving the new position of Life Skills Coordinator.
Click here for the Life Skills Coordinator video in which Hale was interviewed.
At the time, the Life Skills Coordinator was the graduate assistant for the men’s lacrosse program and a notable student-athlete from that program, Jake Spadoni. While going through the Life Skills program, Hale made the switch to finance for his major and has been thriving in it, with a rapidly increasing grade-point average.
Prior to Alfred University, Hale played football for Coach Dembowski and the Big Blue of Swampscott High School, just a half-hour northeast of Boston. While playing for the Big Blue, Hale made the NEC All-Star List and was the Team MVP in 2013.
Hale is the son of Sean and Ingrid Hale and his brother, Peter, is a middle distance runner for the track and field team at Williams College.