Piercing Thoughts

With time waning in Saturday’s boys basketball sectional championship, the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau coaching staff kept busy, motivating its players and scheming their best attempt at a comeback with the Red Hawks trailing a strong opponent.

The coaches — while working relentlessly and visibly displaying belief in their team — were not who drew my attention, though.

Senior Jack Beedle has not played a game for G-E-T since Dec. 27 as he recovers from injury, but anyone paying attention to sideline conversations on Saturday might have assumed he was an assistant coach.

Beedle was constantly clapping his hands, supporting teammates to keep fighting. Even when it appeared there was no longer enough time left for the Red Hawks to make up the difference on the scoreboard, Beedle never stopped.

Every time there was a substitution, the senior was one of the first people on their feet to welcome a tired teammate back to the bench. He was talking to the other players sitting in chairs on the G-E-T sideline, urging them to keep the energy high.

Toward the end of the game as his classmates exited the final game of their prep basketball careers, again it was Beedle who rushed to congratulate them on a strong effort and the playoff run that was coming to a close.

At one point with less than five minutes remaining, Beedle had his hands cupped over his mouth as he echoed encouragement for his fellow Red Hawks, his face turning red and tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever see a leader like that again,” G-E-T coach Jared McCutchen said of Beedle after Saturday’s game. “He’s been an unbelievable leader for us the last three years, but especially this year after his injury. It was tough, but he stuck with it.”

When Beedle was on the court wearing number 13 for G-E-T, his playing style was supportive, too. 

Beedle was never an offensive superstar, though he occasionally found a groove from the three-point line — he hit all five of his attempts from beyond the arc to score a career-high 18 points and help G-E-T win a game over Coulee Conference opponent Black River Falls in January 2022.

He scored a season-high 11 points twice this season, one of seven Red Hawks to record at least 10 points in a game despite only playing in nine of the team’s 28 games.

Fans saw only nine games of Beedle on the court this year, but he made an impact in limited time. 

The fact that he made even more of an impact off the court? 

That’s what leadership is, and it’s the type of character that most coaches dream of having — the kind programs build upon.