NEW BERLIN, Pa. — Winning the 2014 Bassmaster High School National Championship was a life-changing experience for Nick Osman.
The victory proved Osman and his partner, Garrett Enders, can beat the best high school anglers in the nation.
“I found that it also changed my life off the water,” said Osman, now 18.
“It’s really heartwarming when you have younger kids looking up to you and saying you are their hero. I try to be the best role model I possibly can be. I stay out of trouble and I try my best in school.”
Osman, who is an honor roll student and class vice president at Sun Area Vo-Tech, has loved fishing since he was 3 years old. He liked trout fishing with his dad or fishing for bass in Walker Lake.
When his mom told him about a local bass club, Osman signed up with the Junior Bassbusters and started competing in tournaments as a seventh-grader.
Since then, Osman has racked up an impressive list of tournament accomplishments in addition to being selected, along with Enders, as the Pennsylvania representatives on the Bassmaster High School All-State Team.
Osman says his biggest accomplishment was winning the Bassmaster High School National Championship, but he has also won the 3 Rivers Challenge in 2012 and the 2015 Pennsylvania B.A.S.S. Nation state qualifier. He placed second in the 2014 Pennsylvania B.A.S.S. Nation High School State Championship and the 2014 Pennsylvania B.A.S.S. Nation Federation District II as a co-angler. This past summer, he finished 15th in the 2015 Costa Bassmaster High School Championship.
Osman is also a member of the Washberry Bass Club and finished fourth in the overall in the state as a co-angler in the adult competition of the Pennsylvania B.A.S.S. Nation.
“Nick is a great kid,” said Tom Prowant, who has coached both Osman and Enders throughout their days with the Junior Bassbusters and the Susquehanna Valley High School Fishing Team. “He is a leader and helps out as a boater for the junior program here in my area. He does really well in school and is just an all-around good kid.
“It is a pleasure just having him in the boat with me. He fishes hard, and that is one of the reasons we won the national championship. He and Garrett both put their heads down and really fished hard.”
After graduating from high school, Osman is considering attending Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, Pa., to pursue an associate degree in cabinet making. Osman wants to further his education to become a tech teacher, but his ultimate dream is to become a professional bass angler.
