Back in the game

JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM
West Nodaway baseball coach Bryce Buholt coaches third base during his high school coaching debut at Maryville High School. Buholt earned first team All-State honors as a player on the same field 10 years ago.

Baseball has been a passion for Bryce Buholt for as long as he can remember, and getting involved again in the game he loved as a youth has pointed him in a career direction he had previously never considered.

Buholt, Maryville High School’s only first-team All-State performer in baseball, and current baseball coach at West Nodaway High School, remembers loving baseball as far back as memory serves him, and he knows where that passion comes from.

“My love of baseball came from my dad,” Buholt said. “He didn’t force it on me, but he was always there to play catch with me. I remember him coming home from meetings in the evening and I’d wait for him with my glove and his glove. As soon as he got out of the car, I was right there, and he’d take his glove and we would play catch, even though he still had on his dress clothes.”

Buholt, who was born in Maryville, remembers starting his organized baseball career at the t-ball field that was located north of Beal Park, on the north side of Seventh Street.

“I remember how excited I was to play,” Buholt said. “I had a uniform (tee shirt) with a number on the back, so I was just like the Royals in my mind.”

Buholt moved with his parents, Terry and Sheryl, to Chillicothe soon afterward and much of his development as an athlete came while living there.

“I remember my first t-ball game in Chillicothe,” Buholt said. “I had a Rafael Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle glove. He was my favorite and I loved that glove. The other team’s coach made fun of it, so I retired it that day and got a real glove. My Rafael glove still hangs in my room though.”

Through summer baseball, Buholt had the opportunity to travel and play with and against players from across the state and region.

“We would always qualify to advance to the state level in summer baseball,” Buholt said. “I made some good friends from other cities, like Blake DeWitt (former Dodgers and Cubs infielder) and Jacob Priday (former All-American outfielder for the Missouri Tigers), who are both from Sikeston.”

Buholt was an All-Conference performer in football and baseball during his freshman year at Chillicothe, before the family moved as Terry’s career as a school administrator brought them back to Maryville.

Current Maryville High School assistant principal Thom Alvarez remembers Buholt fondly, as he coached him in football.

“Bryce gave you everything he had, every second of every game,” Alvarez said. “He was very competitive and fun to coach.

“I remember watching him play centerfield and when a fly ball went up, you automatically figured you had an out because no matter where it was, Bryce would go get it.”

After a stellar career in baseball and football at Maryville High School, which included the first-team All-State baseball honors following his senior campaign in 2004, Buholt chose to continue his baseball career at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa.

“I went there because the athletic director, Bill Krecji, who was a former Northwest Bearcat, convinced me it was the place for me,” Buholt said.

Buholt became one of only two freshmen to receive All-Region honors as a freshman at SWCC, hitting .325 while continuing to play outstanding defense in the outfield.

However, at the end of that freshman campaign, two major events changed Buholt’s life forever and caused him to lose much of the passion he always possessed for the game.

“I had torn up my shoulder and was facing surgery,” Buholt said. “And at the same time, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It turned my world upside down and I decided it was time to come home.”

Buholt chose not to return to SWCC, but attended Northwest and eventually graduated with a degree in business. His shoulder failed to respond to the initial surgery, and over the next four years, Buholt had three additional surgeries on the shoulder.

“I spent four years feeling sorry for myself,” Buholt said. “I really lost my passion for baseball because I couldn’t participate anymore.”

Buholt credits his nephew for getting him involved again in the game he had loved so much growing up.

“My nephew Corbin, who was 8, asked me to coach his t-ball team,” Buholt said. “He was so excited to have his team tee shirt and I saw in him the little guy I was several years before, so I agreed to coach the team.”

Buholt spent the next four summers coaching the team, while managing Jock’s Nitch, a local sporting goods store.

“I found out that through coaching, I still had the desire to compete,” Buholt said. “I’m very competitive by nature and coaching gave me an outlet for that. I found that I really enjoyed it.”

West Nodaway High School decided to add baseball for the 2013-14 school term and when athletic director Roger Johnson approached Buholt about coaching the first-ever Rocket baseball squad, there was no hesitation on Buholt’s part.

“I love the competition every day,” Buholt said. “Coach (Heath) Harris (West Nodaway assistant baseball coach) and I started planning on Thanksgiving for the spring season.

“I enjoy the thinking part of the game as a coach. You’re always trying to stay one step ahead of the other coach.”

However, the hours spent on baseball came at a price, as Buholt was forced to choose between coaching the game he loved and his position at Jock’s Nitch. With little hesitation, he chose baseball.

“I was committed to my players at West Nodaway,” Buholt said. “It has been so much fun to watch them grow, mature and become better ballplayers that there was no way I was going to leave them.”

Buholt is now looking into getting his teaching certification, as he has discovered how much he enjoys working with young people.

“Ten years ago, I would never have considered teaching and coaching as a job option,” Buholt said. “But baseball has guided me to this point.”

As Buholt prepares the young Rockets for their first-ever District Tournament appearance at Green City, he’s urging his team to ignore its No. 2 seed and instead focus on one game at a time.

“Right now, our focus is on the first game against Southwest Livingston,” Buholt said. “We want to take them one game at a time.”

And with that, it’s easy to see. Bryce Buholt is back in the game.