Student-Athlete Of The Month: Charlie Hartman

Charlie Hartman’s connection to Severna Park High School, and the students therein, runs deep.

So deep, in fact, he was willing to put himself in an unfamiliar position for the benefit of the school and his friends.

“I’d always kind of wanted to play football, but usually in the fall would be a big recruiting team for baseball. I’d always teased playing, but it never worked out,” said Hartman, who before this fall had never played tackle football. “But senior year, I’m best friends with all those kids, and they really wanted me to come out, so I just went for it.”

It helped that he had committed to Salisbury University’s program to play baseball, his primary sport, just before football season started. And not only did he pick up the game quickly, but he thrived as a chain-moving receiver in the Falcons’ high-flying passing attack.

Football gave him a new perspective on something Hartman has been developing for years both in and out of the competitive arena: connecting with people.

It’s through sports that he has connected with people from all walks of life. In addition to now being a three-sport letterman at Severna Park High, Hartman has volunteered in the school and in the community at large both with abled and special needs members of the community.

Those associations include the Best Buddies club and the Athletic Leadership Council at Severna Park, Challenger Baseball in the community, and even connecting through the Big 26 Buddy program at a multi-state baseball showcase in which standout prep baseball players team with special needs players.

Even more notably, Hartman is Severna Park’s male athlete representative for Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ Student Athletic Advisory Council, in which one male and one female athlete from each of the district’s 15 public schools gather monthly to discuss promoting high school and middle school sports, leadership and teamwork sessions, and community volunteer work.

That has helped Hartman’s leadership skills in the athletic field, and it’s also laid the groundwork for his career path. He plans to major in business economics and minor in political science at Salisbury, and after that, he hopes to go to law school.

“It’s definitely helped my leadership skills and helped me be assertive without hurting people’s feelings. I’ve learned that talking to people human to human, and making a real connection with them, makes it a lot easier to talk to them about sports,” Hartman said. “That has helped with my interpersonal skills, being able to talk to people and persuade them to my point of view. I feel like I have a good handle on reading people’s emotions and being able to understand them.”

That ability has been put into action on the basketball court this winter. Entering the season, Hartman was one of two players (the other being Keaghan Gorski) with any meaningful varsity experience, and each of them played limited minutes in previous seasons. But Hartman has taken all the leadership skills gleaned over the years and helped bring the team up to speed with what it means to be a contributor at the varsity level.

“To put what Charlie means into words is very difficult to do,” said Severna Park varsity basketball coach Pete Young. “Whether it’s a practice, a game, or a team function, he is 110% in. Whether it’s his more than commendable baseball career, his basketball career, or adding football to his repertoire — which he had never played before — he gives all of himself to whatever he does.”

In describing Hartman’s intangibles, Young related a story about former NBA player Donyell Marshall, whom Young counts as an acquaintance. During the last few years of his 15-year pro career, Marshall’s body kept telling him it was time to retire, but teams insisted on paying to keep him around less for his on-floor ability and far more for his value in veteran leadership, team chemistry and locker room composure.

“That’s Charlie. He’s important on the floor, but he’s a glue guy and a great locker room presence,” Young said. “He’s going to be very difficult to replace.”