ANNVILLE, Pa. – In athletics, perspective and humility seem harder to come by in today's environment of social media celebrities, the internet's round-the-clock sports coverage, and a slew of 24/7 cable sports channels. For many young athletes, photos with trophies present opportunities for more likes on Instagram. A post hyping one's personal accolades invites an increase in Twitter followers. Far too often, self-worth and success are measured in terms of inflated statistics and broken records. It's 2018 and this is the world in which we live. Some set the trends, others get on board, and stragglers get left behind.
 
And then there's Sammy Bost.


 
In the pantheon of the most accomplished student-athletes to ever compete for Lebanon Valley College, you'd be hard pressed to find another performer with a resume as impressive as Bost's. There's the great Lou Sorrentino; a legendary three-sport athlete who signed professional contracts with the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Orioles. Mike Rhoades, the 1994-95 national player of the year, led the men's basketball program to its first national championship. Now he's the head coach at VCU. Andy Panko, a two-time consensus national player of the year and LVC's all-time leading scorer, continues his nearly 20-year career playing basketball professionally around the world. Cynthia Adams etched her name in history by winning the 800m and becoming LVC's most recent national champion in the spring of 2015. That's the company with which Bost keeps, as a quick glance at her credentials will corroborate.
 
She's holds the NCAA record for consecutive stolen bases. She represented the MAC Commonwealth as the conference's NCAA Woman of the Year nominee in 2017. She is a three-time NFCA All-American, a three-time CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American, and the only softball player in program history to have her jersey retired. She led the Flying Dutchmen to three conference titles and NCAA Tournament appearances as a member of LVC's softball and women's tennis teams. She was an NFCA National Player of the Year Top-10 Finalist in 2016. She's been regional player of the year, she was named conference player and rookie of the year in the same season, and she's earned first-team all-conference recognition playing three different sports. All-Region? Check. CoSIDA Academic All-District? Six times. Just about any athletic or academic award your mind can muster up, Bost has won or been a finalist for.
 
And yet, absent is the stereotypical arrogance, the cockiness, the big head that far too often comes with the territory of being the most decorated student-athlete in school history. Instead, the Eldersburg, Md. native shies away from praise and self-satisfaction. She'd rather her hard work serve as a source of inspiration for those players who come next.

     
 
This summer, the physical therapy major met to discuss her record-breaking athletic career, her academic prowess, and how she'll remember her time at LVC. Typical of the anti-superstar, she steered the conversation away from the successes of her past and towards the challenges that remain ahead as she wraps up clinical work and prepares for her final year at Lebanon Valley. Rather than recall her greatest hits on the field of play, she praised her family, coaches, and teammates for their support and friendship. The term "all-American" escaped her lips just once, even then only to downplay the achievement. On the other hand, phrases including "working with people" and "helping others" came up time and again.
 
When asked about softball and women's soccer, she deflected talk of program records and individual performances. She surmised that sports are just a part of a much richer life experience. She was sad when she walked off the diamond for the last time, but while others shed tears, she was already setting new goals. When the subject of women's tennis came up, there was no talk of the team's first conference title in nearly a decade. Rather, there was simply gratitude expressed for her teammates' and coaches' willingness to welcome her, a graduate student, into the family despite her almost non-existent track record on the court. She played for six coaches in five seasons and banked knowledge passed on from each of them. She broke out an oldie but goodie mid-sentence when stating that "hard work really does pay off." Funny how the oldest clichés also remain the truest.
 
She credited her father for instilling humility and level-headedness from a young age and when asked about the most valuable assets LVC has allowed her, she failed to mention trophies, awards, degrees, or doctorates. Again and again, the conversation circled back to talk of relationships. Relationships with close friends who pushed her to thrive against competition and in the classroom. With Stacey Hollinger, LVC's all-time winningest softball coach and the woman who recruited her. With former women's soccer teammate and now Doctor of Physical Therapy Rachel Cummings. With God, a relationship that blossomed through her work with the school's Fellowship for Christian Athletes (FCA) and one that continues to burgeon today. And with former men's ice hockey player and FCA member Cole Godfrey, her fiancée.
 
There was no bragging. Thankful for her development of time management skills, Bost expressed a feeling of accomplishment for running the gauntlet that is nine hours of class, an hour at the gym, and five hours of studying in one day, leaving only 10 minutes' phone time for her grandmother and future husband. The gratitude was evident as Bost pondered the possibility of pursuing a future as a PT teacher or professor. Despite having not yet donned the stylish cap that comes with graduating with a doctorate of physical therapy, she is already contemplating ways to give back.
 
     

As the interview wound down, an important memory came to her. Surely she had recalled the tremendous feeling of pride that comes with the news of yet another in a long line of national awards, or the rush she felt when safely stealing home to clinch victory in one of the many state or conference championship games in which she starred.
 
Wrong. Instead, the story she did relate was even more personal, more meaningful to her. A few minutes shared with former women's soccer teammate and fellow PT major Lea Dungan during her first semester of graduate school that continues to shape her outlook and guide her disposition as she enters her final year of LVC's doctoral program.
 
"I remember this exact conversation; ever since this conversation I've been changed," said Bost with a smile. "We were walking outside the sports center and she asked me how my day was going. I was so stressed, I had just taken a test and all this stuff was going on, and I just laid it all out on her.
 
"I left the conversation asking myself, how did that make her better?" she continued. "She's going to have to go through this herself and I probably just made her 10 times more stressed. After our conversation, I always think about that when I talk to someone."
 
Once finished reflecting on five of the most triumphant years a Dutchman has ever put forth, Bost ended the anecdote with all the perspective and humility one has come expect from this antithesis of the big woman on campus; arguably the most accomplished student-athlete to ever suit up for Lebanon Valley College.
 
"When you leave a conversation with someone, are you leaving them better off than they were before?" she asked. "It's really a simple question. How are you bettering someone else's life?"

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