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Basketball practice looks pretty normal at Baptist Bible College in North Springfield.
However, this time last year, there was no practice, because there was no team.
“I’m getting about 20 years of experience off this one coaching year,” said BBC Head Coach Casey Fowler.
Fowler has helped bring the program back after a few years without a team. So the first-year coach needed to start with a simple approach: find players.
“Seven of them are local that have all played in this area in high school,” Fowler said.
“I just jumped on the opportunity to play sports again because I wanted to,” added BBC junior and Buffalo MO native Emilee Todd.
For Todd, it was a shift from volleyball, which she was playing at the school before that team was cut.
For her teammate Autumn Enote, it was just the right opportunity.
“Yeah, I had a dream about playing college ball. I couldn’t wait to come here,” Enote said.
No matter their path, there’s one common theme for these players.
“Our whole team this year, no one has stepped on a college basketball court before this year,” Fowler said.
That makes it difficult to win each night.
But difficult has never deterred Fowler before.
That’s proven by the certificates hanging from his office wall.
“It was 44 and I did 48,” he said.
He’s talking about 48 NBA range three-pointers made in two minutes. It’s one of three Guinness World Records Casey broke for shooting NBA range threes.
He still holds two of the records: most NBA range three-pointers made in two minutes with rebounders, and the most NBA range three-pointers made in one minute by retrieving his own rebounds.
“When I did my one and two [minute records with rebounders], I went from straight top of the key right here,” he said of his favorite spot to shoot from.
Fowler honed his form through years in the Navy and time playing at Drury.
“I would shoot an hour before and an hour after practice at a bare minimum every day.” he said.
But that determination began long before college. Just take it from Casey’s original rebounder — his dad, Mike.
“He’s always been a stubborn child. It’s not ‘let’s go out for five minutes.’ It’s out for two, two and a half hours, and we’re going ‘okay that’s enough’ and he’ll say ‘wait, one more, let me shoot until I miss,’” Mike said.
But missing never happened very often and still doesn’t.
That’s a fact seen first hand by the Patriots players.
“We’ll like face guard really far out on him and he’ll ask us if we’re going to guard him out that far and then he’ll shoot it and make it,” Emilee said.
Those buckets mean more than the certificates they’ve earned.
They’re examples of hard work put forth by a coach who loves the game, and who’s helped open the door for others to find that same passion.
“I never imagined that I would play college basketball,” Emilee said. “So now I’m just enjoying it and taking in the moments that I can.”
