Dylan Campbell remembers the moment he fell in love with the game of baseball.
It was when he realized it was the game his father and idol, Donovan Campbell, had flourished in first at Texas Southern University and then later with the Atlanta Braves organization. Dylan suddenly knew exactly what he wanted to do when he grew up.
“I think from a young age, playing baseball with my dad and he was my coach,” recalled Dylan, who just completed his junior year as an outfielder for the University of Texas. “I knew he played, obviously, and that gave me an interest in it. So, playing it from a young age made me fall in love with it.”
But the way Donovan, aka D.C., remembers it, as a child his son just loved to be outdoors, playing and competing at anything that had to do with a ball. It just happens that baseball is the sport that stuck.
“It’s just been in his DNA since he was a little kid,” D.C. said. “I never really saw it getting to this level. But I can tell you that I know the work that he puts in every single day.”
There is no question, however, that the love of baseball has been a constant and a source of bonding for the father and son over the years. D.C. coached his son when he was little and in many ways continues to coach his son even as he has developed into a star player for the Longhorns.
During these last few years, D.C. has routinely made the trek over to Austin and has been a mainstay around UFCU Disch-Falk Field. And Dylan made sure he spotted his dad in the stadium before first pitch.
And after each game, they talk baseball. They go over what Dylan did well, what he could have done better, his at-bats and his play in the field.
“From the game perspective I’m always there and that just grows our connection because we talk about his at-bats, how the pitcher was throwing and what he can do to get better,” D.C. said, who recently returned from Palo Alto, Calif. after the Longhorns lost to Stanford in the NCAA Super Regional round. “I kind of do the whole coaching thing with him because I played the game at a high level and I know the game, so we can talk about all of those things. We can really get together on just how everything plays out game by game.
“He enjoys those conversations. I keep it real. I don’t sugarcoat anything. I’m just happy that we have that connection that we do have.”
Dylan’s growth in the game has made their baseball journey even more special. This past season, Dylan elevated his game by making spectacular plays in right field, while becoming a player the Longhorns could rely on to make contact and put the ball in play at the plate.
Dylan, who made the All-Big 12 First-Team, had a 38-game hitting streak going late in the season which established new UT and Big 12 records. He also had a 46-game on-base streak that coincided with the 38-game hitting stretch.
Incredibly, both insist that the 38-game hitting streak that shattered both school and conference marks was never discussed.
“What we talked about is his approach to the game, but we didn’t talk about him having a 20-game, 25-game hitting streak or whatever the case may be,” D.C. said. “We talked about his approach, his at-bats and how does he go about continuing to get hits, continuing to have good ABs and putting the ball in play.
“It’s not as easy as it seems to get a 38-game hitting streak. That’s a pretty tough task and we just never brought any attention to it. I think everybody else brought more attention to it than we did because all we were concerned with is just getting good at-bats, making good swings on the ball and good things are going to happen.”
After batting a team-leading .339 batting average to go along with 13 home runs, 50 RBI, 82 hits and 26 stolen bases this past season, there is a great chance Dylan could go high in the upcoming MLB Draft. But both Dylan and his father say that conversation hasn’t even come up yet.
“It’s a proud moment just to be a part of his journey and just knowing how much he and I put in when he was growing up, talking about baseball, learning it, sitting on the couch watching it. All of that stuff,” D.C. said, who played for TSU from 1985-1988 and then was drafted by the Braves in 1988. “It’s just very gratifying to see all of his dreams come to fruition.
“Just as a father, it’s a proud moment. Everybody wants their children to be successful in whatever they choose to do in life.”
Another bonding moment for the father-son duo came this past fall when they also became fraternity brothers after Dylan pledged Omega Psi Phi at UT.
“That had been something I had been interested in doing,” Dylan said. “I didn’t really think too much about it the first two years, but then this past fall, I had an opportunity to pledge. I kind of talked to my dad about it and thought about it.
“It was a great time because it was the fall so we weren’t in season. I couldn’t have been blessed with a better opportunity to do it. That was a great experience. Being at a PWI and getting that diverse experience and being a part of the Divine 9 is great.”
It was a proud moment for Dad, who was there to usher his son into his fraternity.
“He came to me and asked me what I thought about it,” D.C. said. “Of course, me pledging 35 years ago at Texas Southern University, it was just great for me to be able to share that whole experience with him. I was able to walk him across the whole process.
“It’s just great when you have a kid that is in the same fraternity as you, that just makes your bond a whole lot closer.”
But for D.C., the entire journey they have taken as father and son has been nothing but a true blessing.
“Being a baseball guy myself, it’s been pretty fun,” he said. “I enjoy every minute of it. It’s fun to go out and watch those guys compete and perform at the high level that they’ve been performing at. It just brings me back to when he was a child and how much fun he had playing as a youngster and he is still having the same fun today at 20 years old. It’s just been an excellent ride.”
