A player can be undersized and, as a result, overlooked due to the measurables that are sought out along with the intangibles to any sport.

However, Tre Beard's heart and work ethic was never in question -- and the now-Shawnee State alum used that heart and a relentless work ethic to turn himself into one of the best scoring guards in the NAIA realm by the time his career ended.

The first-ever men's basketball player to earn NAIA All-American (Third Team) and CSC-NAIA Academic All-American honors (Second Team) in 2024-25, Beard was officially named as the 2024-25 River States Conference's Male Athlete of the Year in a release that was made public by River States Conference officials Wednesday afternoon.

The 2025 RSC Men's Basketball Player of the Year and a Third-Team NAIA All-American, Beard not only became the first player in the history of the men's basketball program at Shawnee State to not only obtain All-American honors on both the academic and athletic side of the house, but the first player to accomplish that feat in the same season as well.

For the 2024-25 season as a whole, Beard dropped in 19.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game on ridiculous efficiency, shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 47.7 percent from three-point range while averaging 38 minutes per game. Career-wise, Beard, a NAIA National Champion in 2021, is the only player ever with the Shawnee State men's basketball program to win a national tournament game in two separate seasons (2021 and 2024), and is the only player with Shawnee State men's basketball to have posted two seasons above 45 percent from three-point range (50.3 23-24; 47.7 24-25).

During the final two seasons of his career at Shawnee State, Beard scored over 20 points in a game 16 times -- and after breaking the 20-point barrier three times over Shawnee State's final five games in 2023-24, eclipsed 20 points 11 times during the 2024-25 season alone.

The Master's of Business Administration major held a 3.84 GPA as a graduate student at the time of official nomination, and graduated with a 3.58 GPA with a bachelor's degree in business management in December 2024. Along with his academic and athletic accolades, Beard launched his own clothing line, Christ over Me, which has been widely popular among the campus community at Shawnee State and elsewhere.

Beard helped former Shawnee State men's basketball head coach Michael Hunter, a highly proficient basketball mind in his own right, lead Shawnee State to a 37-24 overall record in their two seasons together at Shawnee State. Both individuals are at NCAA Division I Cleveland State now, as Beard, under recently passed NCAA legislation, has completed his NAIA eligibility but has one year left to play at the NCAA level and will play for the Vikings in 2025-26, while Hunter is an assistant coach on Rob Summers' staff.