Courtesy photo Nashua Silver Knights general manager Cam Cook, center, and assistant GM Katie Arend, receive the FCBL's Organization of the Year award from FCBL Commissioner Joe Paolucci, left. at the league's recent awards and Hall of Fame dinner.

NASHUA – They were one of two teams that were allowed to have fans at their stadium for games during the pandemic, and things went through the season without a hitch.

They captured their fifth Futures Collegiate League championship as well.

Thus is it any wonder that the Nashua Silver Knights were recently named the Futures Collegiate League Organization of the Year, and first-year general manager Cam Cook the FCBL William J. Terlecky Executive of the Year?

It’s pretty much a clean sweep for the organization, as two months ago, prior to the playoffs, first-year manager Kyle Jackson was named the league’s Manager of the Year.

“Despite the fact that this was a near impossible season to pull off, the Nashua Silver Knights were the class of the Futures League,” FCBL Commissioner Joe Paolucci said in a release. “The way they prepared for the season and implemented their plan to keep everyone safe showed incredible leadership.

“This organization is a class act from top to bottom and has set a great example for the entire league.”

“We are humbled and honored to be recognized as the Organization of the Year,” said Silver Knights owner John Creedon, Jr., who also owns the Worcester Bravehearts, the 2019 Organization of the Year. “Success is about culture, and culture is about people.

“I’d say that we caught lightning in a bottle with Cam Cook and (assistant general manager) Katie Arend leading the Silver Knights in our front office and having Kyle Jackson as our skipper. They have created a winning culture on and off the field that the Silver Knights will build on for years to come.”

Cook, Arend and Creedon, Jr. put together a comprehensive COVID-19 safety and readiness plan that impressed city and state officials, as well as local health officials, and led to all the necessary approvals to host games this past summer.

The plan covered procedures for fan, player and staff safety, food services, ballpark cleaning, and ticketing and merchandise sales, among other topics.

They basically operated with a 25 percent seating capacity for 24 regualr season games and Holman was the site for all three games of the FCBL Finals.

Cook, before he joined the Knights front office in 2019, was best known as being a key to Nashua’s titles in 2016 and 2017 as the starting third baseman out of Nichols College, and he set the FCBL’s single-season hits record in 2017, as well as the all-time mark at Nichols. He now adds Executive of the Year honors to his extensive baseball resume.

“Cam is already known around Nashua as somewhat of a baseball legend,” Creedon said. “But he has shifted his focus and worked hard to earn his stripes as a business executive.”

In additon to guiding the organization during a health crisis, Cook helped Jackson put together a championship team that finished 23-16 during the regular season and downed the Bravehearts 2-1 in the best-of-three finals.

The Silver Knights boasted seven All-FCBL players including two Most Valuable Player finalists in first baseman Dominic Keegan (Vanderbilt) and outfielder Jared Dupere (Northeastern). Pitcher Nick Guarino (Clark) and designated hitter John Mead (Franklin Pierce) were also named to the All-FCBL First Team. But perhaps his biggest move was signing former Nichols teammate Kyle Bouchard late in the season, as Bouchard got several key hits down the stretch for the Knights and was named Finals MVP.

He also tripled the scope of the Silver Knights’ youth baseball camp from one week to three and developed an after-school baseball skills clinic that is currently underway, providing the team with some much-needed off-season revenue.

Even before the pandemic hit, Cook and Arend had the organization on target for a record business year. Cook

Cook then pivoted effectively to crisis management mode with immeasurable grace and composure.

Cook has done other work with the league, serving on the FCBL’s Rules Committee as it updated baseball standards, and he helped in the creative process of developing the promotional video that is being used in connection with expansion opportunities.

Cook has made himself known in the local business community, as he articipates in the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Greater Nashua program, leads the Chamber’s young professionals program, and serves on the Gate City Brewfest steering committee. He recently joined the Board of Directors of Nashua Cal Ripken Baseball.

“Cam has a cool and calm leadership style. He’s never too up or too down,” Paolucci said. “His demeanor was exactly what was needed considering the stressful season we had due to COVID. He is an impressive guy with a bright future.”

The FCBL’s Executive of the Year Award is named in honor of late former North Shore Navigators GM Bill Terlecky, who lost his battle with cancer last October after working in the game of baseball for more than four decades.

“Winning an award with Bill Terlecky’s name attached to it makes it that much more special,” Cook said in a statement. “And although it is my name on the plaque, the 2020 season took everyone in every front office across the league to step up and be at their best to get this thing done.

“Every single GM in the league went above and beyond this year to do something very few leagues at any level were able to do, and I’m very excited to see what we can do moving forward.”

(Material from the Futures League media relations department was used in this report).