The sun is setting on a very special time for Camdenton head baseball coach Bryce Durnin. “It definitely hits me in some of these longer road trips,” said Durnin. “I think I’m getting old because I’m getting a little more emotional and softer a bit. I’m trying to slow the world down a little bit.”
Just three years ago, his oldest son Kam played shortstop, his middle son Kade played third base, and his youngest Karson played second base. All in the same infield. “Both of them are great role models,” said Karson Durnin, a senior on the Camdenton baseball team. “Really, I do everything and started doing everything because they did and I wanted to be exactly like them.”
Now, Karson is the senior, and he’s grown a lot since the now 6’4″ shortstop played with them as a freshman.
“I obviously got the skinny genes,” Karson said, with a laugh. “I’m still trying to put on weight. I’m about 180 pounds now. The other two are a little bit stronger and stockier. They can put the ball over the fence, and I struggle with it a bit.”
Not struggling enough to prevent him from making the all-state team as a sophomore. After rehabbing a knee injury all last year he’s back. Whether he puts up numbers or not, his secret weapon is always there for him. “She always says, ‘I love watching you play, I love you,'” Karson said. “And so just having that, and the on-field play not mattering with her, it’s just one of the coolest things.”
He’s referring, of course, to his mom, Jill Durnin. “I know nothing,” said Jill, with a laugh. “I have nothing to add. They had a really good coach.”
And coach says, don’t buy that. “Everybody always asks me, ‘How do I do it?’ or ‘How do we do this?'” Bryce Durnin, Jill’s husband said. “Jill is the key. She makes everything work. The biggest mistake we make is we fail to recognize it a ton.”
Now that the empty nest awaits, the Durnins are preparing to split their free time travelling to see Karson play with Kam at Wichita State, and Kade play at TCU. “We’ve really just traded in our food bill for travel bills,” Jill said, with a laugh. “I’m so excited for them. And, of course, as a parent this is what you want. For them to spread their wings and go. We joke all the time, ‘Do we have any hobbies?'”
But first Karson plans to add to the Durnin legacy at Camdenton one last time.
