Until last month, Nico had never seen a Major League Baseball game live.
He had been to an MLB stadium only once before, when his third-grade school chorus sang the national anthem at an Atlanta Braves game. All the now-18-year-old freshman at Florida State remembers from that experience was falling asleep on the way there, however, having to reorient himself in time to sing before leaving immediately after.
“I asked my mom, ‘Why can’t we stay?'” Nico recalled. “And she was like, ‘Just mind your business.’ We just kept going.”
Nico finally got his chance to watch an MLB game in person at Game 2 of the 2024 World Series, courtesy of FOX Sports honoring him as the 2024-25 Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) Youth of the Year — an award he received in September. It included a scholarship to Florida State, and as far as he initially knew, nothing more than a small ceremonial role in the pregame festivities before the Los Angeles Dodgers took on the New York Yankees on Oct. 26.
So when Nico arrived at Dodger Stadium, he was focused on taking it all in. Little did he know that he was about to meet the “MLB on FOX” crew and become the latest recipient of the FOX Sports World Series scholarship on behalf of his hometown Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville.
“I actually remember being at the game and looking at the scoreboard and seeing 52,700 in attendance,” Nico said. “I was like, ‘That’s crazy.’ Being astonished by how big the stadium was, and then actually being able to walk in and be in a dugout and be, like, backstage, seeing the coaches and the players and seeing the old lockers from way back and stuff like that. Just being in there, and seeing the history, it was very cool and fascinating.”
Nico also took time to learn the stories of the production crew and was fascinated by the logistics of putting on pregame festivities both at the stadium and on television, where schedules must be timed down to the second. But as he stood on the field taking in the spectacle in front of him, he was approached by FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks, a proud BGCA alum who now sits on the national organization’s board of governors.
Then, Shanks stepped aside and motioned towards the “MLB on FOX” studio crew consisting of host Kevin Burkhardt and legendary former MLB players Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez, fresh off their World Series Game 2 pregame show. Like Shanks, Rodriguez is also a proud former “club kid” who remains an active part of the BGCA board.
“Nico, it’s your turn,” Shanks said.
Still, Nico thought he was just getting a quick photo op with the famed on-air quartet.
“And then Kevin starts talking,” Nico recalled. “I’m like, ‘OK.’ Then he keeps talking, he’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re giving you this award.’ And I just kind of froze for a little bit.”
Burkhardt explained to Nico that the FOX Sports World Series scholarship is a $15,000 grant to the hometown club of the BGCA National Youth of the Year, paid out in $5,000 scholarships to the next three Club Youth of the Year awardees from that location.
“That was the biggest thing to me,” Nico said. “Just hearing that I’m able to impact other students from my hometown.”
Instantly, images of specific BGCA members from his home club who could be awarded the scholarships flashed into Nico’s mind.
“I actually had an opportunity to talk with one of my ‘younger brothers’ — somebody that I call my younger brother — from Jacksonville,” Nico said. “Just hearing that it could impact him … hearing the ambition in his story, and the things that he’s doing in high school right now, it makes me so happy, man. Like, these are the people that I want to impact. These are the people I want to inspire, and they allow me to do that. I didn’t ask for anything like this, but I’m grateful. I don’t think I could have ever asked for anything like this. I wouldn’t really know how to, but they did this, and it’s able to really release a burden off people’s families.
“The person I call my little brother, his name is Caleb. His mom, she [has] been working so hard. They’re immigrants, and she’s working so hard to fund his way through high school and to pay for things like housing and stuff like that. And $5,000 then would mean a lot, you know? And that’s who I imagine that it would help. And it means a lot to me, not just the $15,000 [in honor of] me, but $5,000 for any student that wins [Club Youth of the Year] in Northeast Florida. That’s big. It’s really big.”
Nico knows firsthand about that impact. After experiencing homelessness, which included living out of a trash bag and wearing one outfit for days on end, Nico was persuaded to join the Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Florida after his family relocated from Atlanta to Jacksonville as he began high school.
Now, he credits BGCA, who “found me in a very dark part of my life,” with showing him that he could just be himself, work on bettering himself, and giving him other valuable life skills.
Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2024-25 National Youth of the Year Nico F. is congratulated by the “MLB on FOX” crew after his hometown club received the FOX Sports World Series scholarship in his honor. (Photo by FOX Sports)
“They taught me how to navigate this world and how to be okay with being in this situation that you’re in, how to enjoy the journey,” Nico said. “I would say [the BGCA] most specifically, like, really [helped] enhance my leadership traits and show me how the importance of building, like, individual relationships with people, and really building real relationships and … not really dwelling on the past, and realizing that my past [has] not defined who I am.
“If all young people had the insight that I had, I would feel like I did my job. I’m only 18, and everything I said I wanted to do when I was 15 or 14 — it happened.”
Nico himself has big aspirations. He is currently studying political science at FSU with dreams of one day becoming a United States representative, but also has interests in the world of fashion, which helps explain how he has already started both a nonprofit and a clothing brand.
Nico got some inspiration from fellow BGCA member Pearle, who sang the national anthem before Game 2 of the World Series. She told him about how her BGCA experience gave her the courage to change her major and pursue her passion in her own college experience.
First ball deliverer from the Boys and Girls Club of America Nico F. acknowledges the crowd prior to Game 2 of the 2024 World Series. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
But two moments from that evening at Dodger Stadium also stand out to Nico. The first was discovering his favorite exhibit in the ballpark — a large portrait of Jackie Robinson. Nico took a picture next to the MLB color barrier-breaking legend and hopes to get it framed. The second was hearing Jeter speak so highly of him both directly in private and on the “MLB on FOX” postgame show segment about the scholarship that night.
“My uncle, he watches baseball a lot, he’s one of my biggest role models,” Nico said. “Calling me because [one of] his biggest role models just said my name on national TV, like, that’s crazy. It’s something you could only dream of. … For so long, I felt voiceless, and to now be heard by everybody that wants to hear me, it’s great. It feels good.”
Now, Nico hopes to continue helping make others’ dreams come true.
“The biggest thing I can do right now is just spread positivity and let people know they can do anything [they] put their minds to,” Nico said. “I’m only 18. It seems like my life has just started, and I’m helping somebody else get an education.”
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