CASSVILLE, MO - In an age of specialization, Cassville senior Ricky Nichols is a throwback. Football, basketball, baseball, he does it all. And does it all well.
"He doesn't just play 3 sports, he's a 3 sport star," said Cassville head coach Kyle Wood.
All-district in all 3 sports, All-state in football and baseball.
"He could step on the track right now and he'd be the 4th leg on our 4x100 team at Cassville."
"Our coaches like to preach that to be the best athlete you have to play all 3 sports," said Nichols. "That's just part of the culture from Coach Large from football. He expects the kids to play other sports so that we can be successful everywhere."
The competitive nature of Nichols has made him a perfect fit in Cassville's multi-sport plan.
"No matter what it is, even if I'm thumb wrestling or rock-paper-scissors to see who bats first or something, no matter what it is I'm going to be competitive and hopefully keep winning."
Winning is something Nichols has done a lot of in his career. He was a member of 2 state champion football teams and helped the baseball team to a run of 5 straight conference titles. With his career now in the books, it's easy to appreciate what he meant to his school.
"Ricky Nichols, I'll tell you this right now, is probably the best athlete that I've ever seen come through Cassville."
The Ricky Nichols era has been a great one at Cassville and he's enjoyed every minute he spent as a Wildcat.
"My time has been good. The whole community gets behind us. It's been good. I'm going to miss it here."
Cassville senior Ricky Nichols is this week's Arby's High School athlete of the week.
