Revitalizing a Fallen Athlete (Part 1 of 4)

Always Striving for More

I grew up surrounded by cornfields in West Central Ohio where many would consider “the middle of nowhere”. Despite being from a small town, I always had big dreams. As an only child, I was blessed by the fact that my parents Clark and Sharon could attend all of my athletic events and other activities. They always encouraged me to push towards my dreams and made every effort they possibly could to open up opportunities for me.

Like many children, I dreamed of taking my talents to higher levels in my respective sport. For me it was soccer. I lived and breathed soccer and played all-year-round. Those who come from urban areas have no idea what extra commitment it takes to play for a quality club team when living out in a rural area. Most kids have practice close to their home but I had to drive to Columbus, which is just under an hour away from my parent’s house. Right after school would dismiss, I would hurry home, grab a snack, change and hit the road once again. Several nights a week, I would make the two-hour round trip for practice and then stay up late for homework. That is the dedication it took to work towards the college game.

By the time my senior year of high school soccer at West Liberty-Salem rolled around, I had already collected a handful of awards but my last season would be my best. I finished the year with 19 goals and 19 assists and became only the third soccer player in school history to earn a varsity letter all four years. I was named the All-Area Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year, First-Team All-Miami Valley, First-Team Ohio Heritage Conference, OHSAA Scholar Athlete, OSSCA Academic Excellence recipient and West Liberty-Salem Scholar Athlete. During that season, I also committed to Baldwin Wallace University for soccer and to major in broadcasting and mass communications. Becoming a sports broadcaster and journalist was my other big dream.

In 2016, I graduated seventh in my class and then immediately started pursuing my career goals by working in commercial radio. I started as a reporter for 98.3 WPKO and 1390 WBLL in Bellefontaine, Ohio. I then spent several years in multiple roles for V-Teck Communications when back on breaks from college. I began to fill-in for the news director when he would use his vacation time and during the summer of 2018, after the company had expanded to Urbana, Ohio, with 106.9 The Bull, I served as the lead news anchor and worked to build the news program from the ground up.

Throughout my college career, I was beginning to live out my dreams while working towards the distant future. I became greatly involved with WBWC 88.3 fm The Sting which is the Baldwin Wallace radio station. For years, I was a key piece of SportsPulse (a once-a-week sports talk show) and was a play-by-play or color commentator for football and basketball.

Eventually, I was inducted into Baldwin Wallace University’s Epsilon Nu Chapter of the National Communication Association’s acclaimed Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society. Through three seasons of soccer at BW, I had appeared in 33 games with four starts and had earned two varsity letters. I also was recognized as Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference in 2017 and 2018.

Those who knew me or knew of me probably believed I had it all. Not only witnessing what blessings I had in my life but also thinking I had everything in line. In many ways it makes a lot of sense. For me, I was not counting my blessings but instead I wanted more. I was never satisfied.