Greencastle, Ind. - Robby Ballentine (Crown Point, Ind./Andrean), a 2026 DePauw graduate and member of the Tigers' football team, has been selected as the 2026 Phil Eskew Award recipient as DePauw's top senior male student-athlete. Ballentine is also DePauw's nominee for the North Coast Athletic Conference's Don Hunsinger Award.
 
The Eskew Award is presented each year to a senior male student-athlete who best exemplifies effort and excellence in academics, athletics, leadership, integrity, dedication to the team, campus involvement and community service.

DePauw's 2026 Walker Cup recipient, Ballentine was the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for Division III Football after earning First Team Academic All-America® honors for the second consecutive year. He was one of just four student-athletes from NCAA Divisions I, II and III and NAIA to be recognized as a team member of the year. 

Ballentine, a biochemistry major, earned first team Associated Press All-America honors, American Football Coaches Association second team accolades and was a second team D3football.com all-America choice for the second straight year after leading the Tigers with program single-season records of 92 receptions and 1,314 yards. His 16 touchdowns receptions are tied for second in school history behind his 20 last year. Ballentine caught at least four passes in each game this season and had at least one touchdown reception in 11 of the 12 contests. His 244 receiving yards at Centre on Sept. 13 broke a program record and he topped his own mark with 246 yards on Oct. 25 at Denison. In the Denison game, Ballentine tied a single-game school mark with 16 receptions.

The 2025 Mike Gregory Award recipient as the North Coast Athletic Conference's offensive player of the year, Ballentine was a three-time first-team all-NCAC selection. This year he was a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy and a semifinalist for the Gagliardi Trophy Presented by Stearns Bank. 

Ballentine finished his career with an NCAC-record 253 receptions for 3,783 yards and a DePauw and NCAC record 54 touchdowns. The 54 touchdown catches equaled the most by any active player on all NCAA levels.

The summa cum laude graduate was part of a senior class that was the first at DePauw in 25 years to win the Monon Bell game four straight years. They finished with a 40-6 record and set program records for wins and winning percentage by a class. DePauw finished with a 10-2 record this season before bowing out in the third round of the NCAA Division III Football Championship. 

Ballentine was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Chi Alpha Sigma honor societies. He has served as head youth mentor for the Lake County Veterans Treatment Court as well as academic chair for DePauw's Phi Delta Theta chapter.

Other finalists for this year's Eskew Award include Finley Buelte (men's tennis), Charlie Hawk (baseball), Grant Hunt (men's track and field), Joe Murdock (men's golf) and Ethan Williams Fonner (men's swimming and diving).

Becky Williams of the women's golf team was selected as the Amy Hasbrook Award recipient as the top senior female student-athlete. Complete information on that is available here.
 
The awards are named for former DePauw student-athletes Amy Hasbrook '00 and Phil Eskew Jr. '63. Hasbrook was a four-year letterwinner for the women's basketball team and a 2019 DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame inductee who lost her life in a fire in 2002. Eskew, the president of DePauw's "D" Associationtoglio.for over 20 years, was a 1994 inductee into the DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame and was instrumental in its formation in 1986.

 

Amy Hasbrook Award Winners		Phil Eskew Award Winners
2005	Amy Argetsinger, basketball	2005	JaMarcus Shephard, football/track and field
2006	Leslie Dillon, cross country/track and field	2006	P.J. Mitchell, baseball
2007	Liz Bondi, basketball/tennis	2007	Evan Webeler, tennis
	Sarah Gates, golf
2008	Katie Doogan, swimming and diving	2008	Rob Alexander, swimming and diving
			Jeremiah Marks, football
2009	Amanda Stier, swimming and diving	2009	Michael McNelis, football
2010	Lauren Reich, cross country/track and field	2010	John Cook, swimming and diving
	Megan Soultz, softball		Spud Dick, football
2011	Courtney Lauer, track and field	2011	Jonathan Lambert, football
2012	Catie Baker, swimming and diving	2012	Kreigh Kamman, soccer
2013	Bridgette Shamleffer, field hockey	2013	Matt Kukurugya, swimming and diving
	Kate Walker, basketball
2014	Paige Gooch, golf	2014	Jack Burgeson, swimming and diving
2015	Maggie MacPhail, tennis	2015	Alex Alfonso, swimming and diving
2016	Caroline Zadina, soccer	2016	Marcus Dozier, track and field
			Alex Grissom, swimming and diving
2017	Annie Graves, swimming and diving	2017	Julian Gonzalez, soccer
			Matt Hunt, football
2018	Emma Baldwin, softball	2018	Polo Burguete, cross country/track and field
			Sam McManus, swimming and diving
2019	Larisa Luloff, golf	2019	Paul Christian, cross country/track and field
	Suzanne Peters, volleyball
2020	Anna Foley, golf	2020	Jay Klein, soccer
	Sydney Kopp, basketball
2021	Becca St. Germain, softball	2021	Nolan Ginther, basketball
2022	Cami Henry, softball	2022	Kyle Callahan, baseball
	Erin Pasch, track and field
2023	Seelye Stoffregen, track and field	2023	Elijah Hales, basketball
2024	Annalise Grammel, soccer/ track and field	2024	Robbie Sheffield, swimming and diving
2025	Sophie Porter, cross country/track and field	2025	Jonathan Bruder, football
2026	Becky Williams, women's golf	2026	Robby Ballentine, football