Will

When my sister started dating her now-husband of 22 years…or 21 years…or 23 years? Something in the low-20s. Anyway, back in the early 2000s when they first met, our friends were already buzzing about the limitless basketball potential of their offspring. We were at my buddy Tyson’s wedding reception in 2000 and his cousin was planning to quit his job so he could invest his time and money into doing whatever he could to make sure he became the agent for Betsy and Brett’s yet-to-be-born children. For some context, Betsy is 6’4” (she has often said 6’3” but I don’t believe her) and played college basketball at UW-Milwaukee. Brett is 6’9” and played at UW-Stevens Point. Brett’s first cousin is 7’1” NCAA legend, 10-year NBA veteran, and Hall of Fame amazing human being Eric Montross. Betsy’s dad (also my dad!) was known as Powerful Jim and played football at the University of Wisconsin. Should Betsy and Brett choose to reproduce, their offspring had daunting expectations long before they were born.

In 2005 the prophecy was born and given a name: Will Hornseth. Betsy and Brett never pushed basketball on him, partially because of their own mixed feelings about their experiences with the sport, but mostly because they wanted him to discover what he liked on his own.  This might at least partially explain why Will’s two equally tall brothers – Sam and Ben – want nothing to do with basketball. They let Will find basketball on his own, and in the town of De Pere, Wisconsin, it didn’t take long.  By the way, as long as we’re on the topic, let me say something as a person of average height who has spent his life in a tall family: Don’t be the person who just walks up and asks tall people if they play basketball.  Just stop it.  They don’t like it.  It’s neither funny nor original. They’ve heard it a million times. I can’t fathom the amount of crap my 15-year-old nephew Sam must endure on a daily basis.  Anyway…

I could fill this post with stats, accolades, and tales of his successes, but that’s not why I’m here.  I want to share some stories about the amazing kid I know.  I’ve seen a lot about him scattered across different media, but I don’t think any of them have come particularly close to telling the story.  I’m here to document these thoughts because his high school basketball career just ended abruptly.  It’s been a difficult few days coming to grips with the fact that the amazing ride Will and his team have taken our family and friends on for the past few years is over. Instead of mourning I prefer to document the good times and smile.  I could probably just save this as a Word doc, but I have a blog so I’m posting it even if the only people who read it are my family members.

Will was obviously born with some gifts (see above), but I swear by the time he was 7 years old he had a basketball with him most of the time. My sister would wake up in the morning and Will would already be outside shooting hoops in the driveway. Will would challenge my brother – who also played college basketball at Northern Michigan – to games of HORSE. He would challenge me, too, but I think he was just being polite and including me because I was there. Beating my brother was the objective. I was light work.

By the time he was in 2nd or 3rd grade he was routinely beating us – well, at least me anyway.  The one person he wasn’t beating yet was his mom, but it’s only because she had this annoying/impressive talent for making literally every single shot she took within ten feet of the basket.  It’s a fact: Betsy Hornseth hasn’t missed an uncontested shot within ten feet of the basket since 1993. She’d just stand there burying 100% of her shots from the middle of the paint and wait for you to miss.  Once you did it was over.  Fundamentals!  Back to my point…It was the other skills Will demonstrated while we played in the driveway that really freaked me out. One time he showed me the step back jumper he was working on after watching Steph Curry videos on YouTube and my jaw dropped. He wasn’t remotely clumsy like some tall kids who haven’t grown into their bodies yet. His footwork was shocking. I look back with pride on the time he came to me and said, “Uncle Charlie, I’ve been watching Allen Iverson videos. Who else had a good crossover?” I suggested Tim Hardaway. A few days later he came back to me and said, “I watched Tim Hardaway, but then I saw a guy named Penny Hardaway. Do you know who he is? I liked him better.” The kid was a sponge. He loved the game.

Sometime around 5th grade I started going to games occasionally. Early in the first game I attended he got the ball at the top of the key, crossed a kid over, and took it right for an easy layup. I looked at Brett and said, “I wanna see him do that on the left side now.” Brett just smiled and didn’t say a word. On the next possession, as if he heard what I said, Will got the ball in the same spot, crossed up another kid and took it left, easily sinking a left-handed layup. He was making cuts to the basket and seeing open teammates on passes that I wasn’t.  It’s not like I’m some basketball expert, but I’d been watching basketball for decades at that point. Was it possible that he could live up to the ridiculous expectations we set for him five years before he was born?  I mean, we were joking…mostly.

Around that time another trend developed: He took losing hard. Really hard. Abnormally hard. He was inconsolable if he lost. Sadly, we got a rare reminder of that on Saturday. When he was growing up I heard frequent tales of Will coming home from a tournament that they lost and immediately going to the driveway to improve even if it was already dark out.  He still doesn’t like to lose.  This extends beyond basketball.  It has to drive his siblings crazy. During a recent game of Wingspan with the family he declared that he wins at least 80% of the time he plays, then proceeded to destroy all of us.  Check out Wingspan if you haven’t.  Fun game.

Will reached high school and it was obvious that he was going to do whatever it took to win. In the summer of 2021 when the Milwaukee Bucks were on their NBA Championship run our family was having watch parties for many of the playoff games and one might assume Will would be the first one in front of the TV watching with us.  It was summer and he didn’t have to wake up early for school.  Instead, he was the one absent for most of the games. He was going to bed early so he could get to 6:00 AM workouts.  While we were having fun watching he was putting in work.  Winning always came before stats or individual recognition.  It wouldn’t take much searching for me to find texts between family members and close friends (not Will) containing our complaints that Will wasn’t getting enough shots or Will wasn’t being used properly in the offense.  Not once in four years did Will complain about a thing…at least not in front of me, and not to his parents as far as I know.  I would know because my sister and I have spent an unhealthy amount of time texting about a high school basketball team for the past three years – almost all positive, but there was some occasional venting of frustration.  We always tried to keep that talk away from Will, but if one of us did get out of line and let a complaint slip in front of him he was always quick to correct us.  Instead of finding someone else to blame he looked in the mirror and tried to find ways to improve himself.  100% of the time.  While I’ve never heard him say this specifically, he clearly believes that when his team wins it’s “we” but when they lose it’s “me”.  I literally have never heard him say a bad thing about one of his teammates or coaches. To be honest, it’s kind of intimidating.  It would’ve been cool to just once hear him say, “Yeah, I wish they got me the ball more,” so I could say, “OK, good, this kid is human.”  Instead he sticks to this impossibly high code that he’s set for himself and it’s so admirable but also makes me feel like a terrible human being.

Here’s another observation that I don’t think receives enough recognition: Despite the fact that he’s a fierce competitor who hates to lose, he still enjoys the competition.  Last year during a blowout there were some local youth players on the bench with the team. Will and his teammate Ben Willihnganz spent the last eight minutes of the game goofing off with kids at the end of the bench. Fun for Will and Ben, but a moment those kids will probably remember forever. For three years I’ve seen him take the court and frequently greet the opposing center with a smile and friendly comment.  Some of my favorite Will moments over the years have been watching him talking with the opposition under the basket before free throws.  Was he going to try to rip down the rebound and dunk it five seconds later?  Of course.  But, he always seemed aware that the kids on the other side were just out there playing ball like he was.  I love that he never followed that b.s. faux-macho unwritten rule that you don’t help your opponent up after he’s been knocked down.  Will was always the first one there extending a hand after the whistle when someone hit the floor regardless of the uniform he was wearing.  It extended to fans as well. Sheboygan North was one of our favorite stops over the years, and every time we were there Will had funny stories after the game about fan interactions. Will’s sophomore year their fans chanted, “He’s a redhead,” while he was at the line and it had Will visibly laughing on the court. I’m not 100% sure that interaction happened with North because it was two years ago and games have started to blend together in my mind, but I’m giving North credit anyway because they were always funny. During this year’s matchup at North their students started chanting, “You can’t dunk.” Early in the second half Will unleashed a vicious baseline dunk leading to North’s students yelling things like, “We take it all back,” and, “You grazed the rim. That doesn’t count.” Of course, Will isn’t perfect.  There were certainly a few teams over the years that he developed a strong dislike for that I won’t name here…*cough*…*Bay Port*…*ahem*… Generally he enjoyed forming relationships with kids from other teams.  One of my favorites to watch over the years was a kid named Matt Leonhard out of Sheboygan South, and anytime his name was mentioned Will would light up and say, “I love Leonhard!”  It would bring a smile to my face seeing those two talking before, during, and after games.  Shout out to Matt Leonhard.  A hell of a basketball player and competitor.

Another thing I love about Will’s game: He could throw down a dunk sending the gym into a frenzy and he’d turn around expressionless, point at the player who assisted him, and run back down the court to play defense like an action hero calmly walking away from an explosion.  When a teammate would dunk, bury a huge shot, or score on a difficult and-1 it was a different story.  He’d celebrate.  He was always pumped to see his teammates succeeding.  Not once in three years did I see him show up an opponent.  He’d do everything he could to get his team a bucket, no doubt, but he wasn’t going to turn around and remind the opposition about it after.  He’d get back and play D.  He was like Barry Sanders in a De Pere basketball uniform. 

About a month ago De Pere played their Senior Night game against Green Bay Southwest.  Southwest has had a solid program recently but fell on hard times this year finishing in last place in the conference.  Early in the game Will caught the ball on the right block and took the ball to the basket for an easy dunk.  A much shorter player from Southwest initially instinctively jumped in and attempted to block the shot before he realized halfway up that he was in big trouble.  Will dunked on the kid’s head and left him running away from the basket with his hands over his head like bombs were falling from the sky.  It was comical.  I’m not laughing at the kid.  I respect the hell out of the fact that he tried.  Most would’ve just conceded the dunk.  Remember: The only people who don’t get dunked on are bad defenders. Even the best defenders end up on posters occasionally because they actually try.  Of course, Will just turned and ran back down the court to play defense like nothing happened.  After the game the kids from Southwest – including the victim of his early dunk – came to Will dapping him up, laughing, taking pictures, and talking about the game.  If Will came down from that dunk flexing, talking trash, and making a show of it, do you think those kids would’ve approached him after the game?  At some point he learned that the coolest thing you can do after a highlight reel play – or any play – is act like you’ve been there before and move on.

At this point I probably sound like I’m on a soapbox talking about, “Look at my nephew, he’s better than everyone else.”  That’s not why I’m telling these stories.  I am saying that I’m tired of guys who fill a stat sheet with empty numbers that don’t translate to wins and spend more time trying to manipulate referees than play basketball.  I grew up on dudes like MJ, Magic, Bird, Barkley, and my all-time favorites, GP and Shawn Kemp.  Guys who made the game fun to watch, but would also sacrifice stats to make sure the team won.  You might not find Will in the newspaper or on your Twitter feed much because his stats don’t jump off the sheet.  He rarely leads a game in scoring and that seems to be the only stat that gets mentioned in high school basketball coverage for some reason, probably because the people covering the games aren’t actually watching them.  Here’s a better stat: 81-5.  That’s the De Pere Varsity Basketball Team’s record in the three years Will has been a varsity starter.  They won 94% of their games and one state championship.  Did he have a hell of a team and coaching staff around him?  You bet he did.  And they were all better because Will elevated the games of every single teammate who set foot on the court with him.

One more story: Last Thursday night De Pere played a sectional game against Homestead High School out of Mequon.  A hell of a team that De Pere has faced in the sectionals every year that Will has been on varsity.  A team that De Pere has repeatedly beaten, but that’s more a credit to De Pere than it is an indictment of Homestead. If you follow sports you know that if you give a good team enough chances they’re going to get you.  Homestead was fantastic that night.  They spent the entire game double and triple teaming Will even when he didn’t have the ball, most of the time with two of the best players in the state – Trevor Polite and Tim Franks.  Will took a beating.  It was brutal.  Homestead had a brilliant game plan and executed it almost perfectly.  I say “almost” because if they had executed it perfectly they would’ve won.  It was one of the most fiercely competitive basketball games I’ve ever seen and an emotional roller coaster that I’ll never forget.  Late in the first overtime Homestead took a two-point lead.  De Pere came back down the floor, missed a shot, and Homestead secured the rebound.  A timeout was called with :05 left. De Pere was down two and Homestead had the ball.  For the first time I thought to myself, “Oh my God, this is over.  They’re going to lose.”  Then I looked down on the court and saw Will walking back to the huddle clapping his hands and yelling, “This isn’t over.  We’re still in this. We got this.”  I’m paraphrasing, but it was something close to that. I couldn’t believe it.  In a moment when they had every right to hang their heads he wouldn’t let it happen.  De Pere’s defense forced a bad inbound pass and the kid who caught it tried to keep from going out of bounds and traveled.  A few seconds later Homestead committed a foul, De Pere’s Zach Kinziger calmly drained two of the most pressure-packed free throws that I’ve ever witnessed, and we were onto a second overtime.  De Pere won 59-58.

Sadly, it was the last time we’d see Will win a game in a De Pere uniform.  Why the #1 and #2 ranked teams in the state are facing each other in the sectionals is beyond me, but it is what it is. Two days later in a game that would’ve made an amazing State Championship, Arrowhead figured out how to beat De Pere: make every single shot.  OK, I’m exaggerating, but only slightly.  I absolutely believe the Redbirds hadn’t fully recovered from the battle against Homestead 40 hours earlier, but that’s no excuse. Arrowhead had to play Thursday night, too. Arrowhead shot better than 50% from the floor, made ten 3-pointers, and went 25 of 27 from the line.  Bennett Basich was phenomenal, going 6-for-8 from three, 11-for-12 from the line, and scoring 43 points.  It was amazing. And devastating.  All credit and respect to Basich, Jace Gilbert, and the boys from Arrowhead.  They were fantastic and deserved to win.  Just like that our dreams of seeing Will hoist that gold ball for a second consecutive year were dashed and his high school basketball career ended like thousands of others before him: with heartbreak and a lot of tears.  When the pain and bitter taste from that loss fades I hope that Will has nothing but fond memories of his high school basketball career. He will leave De Pere as one of the greatest winners and all-around players the area has ever seen. Anyone who watched him play knows it. He brought so much happiness to so many people in the past three years. That should easily overshadow a finish that wasn’t what he hoped.

I know when I think of watching Will’s basketball career I’ll remember how much fun our family had attending his games, meeting the other wonderful people from De Pere, and following them all over the state.  I’ll think of the night during Will’s sophomore year when my daughter Phoebe and I had his game streaming on her phone and were screaming in the car as he hit an improbable scoop shot at the buzzer to beat Notre Dame.  I’ll think of the night at Manitowoc Lincoln when Abe’s Gang rocked the gym and we wanted to sneak Will and Phoebe into the postgame party they were holding.  Another night at Lincoln High Will’s teammate Ben Willihnganz shot the lights out and was singlehandedly outscoring the other team at one point in the game. We decided it was because Ben hates Abe Lincoln, a statement that we would repeat for two years. Ben Willihnganz hates President Abraham Lincoln. The nights when De Pere players would sign autographs for kids and my two oldest children – who were way too old to participate – would get in line anyway and get the biggest laughs at Will’s terrible autograph.  One year Will just scribbled lines while smiling for the camera.

Actually, Will elevated his autograph game this year.  Respect.  I remember Will’s alley oop dunk off the glass from Johnny Kinziger at Preble last season that had Will and Johnny so excited for about two seconds afterward that they almost forgot to play defense. Almost. They recovered quickly and I never saw him celebrate one of his dunks again. I’ll definitely think of the night this season when Ashwaubenon’s coach took the time to yell at me in the stands while the game was happening for reasons I still don’t understand (long story), a moment that strangely made me feel more like a member of the De Pere basketball family than anything else that’s happened in Will’s high school career.  I always felt like kind of an imposter going to Will’s games in a De Pere hoodie when I don’t live there and my kids go to neighboring Green Bay East High School. I was there because I love my nephew and I love good basketball. I always tried to mind my own business at the games and not bother anyone, but when that coach stood in front of his bench unleashing his misguided frustration at me I believe I became an honorary Redbird. For the next several games some of the De Pere parents would laugh at me while the schools would recite the obligatory pregame sportsmanship speech.

I’ll think of Will going baseline on the left side and dunking on Pewaukee’s Mr. Basketball, Milan Momcilovic, then a year later doing a baseline spin from the right side and an even better dunk on Milan’s little brother, Luka.  We joked that years from now when the Momcilovic brothers attend family gatherings they’ll remember that Hornseth kid who got both of them. I’ll think of Will standing on the Kohl Center floor after De Pere’s win at state over Kettle Moraine when he was waiting to be interviewed for TV but smiling at his family up in the stands.  When Will smiles – not the smile he does for the camera but a real smile – he does it with his whole face. His eyes light up and it reminds me of when he was the kid playing HORSE against us in the driveway.  The toddler in the picture above. He still looks like a little kid to me when he smiles.  Sorry, Will.  Mostly I’ll remember Will’s high school career for two things: Having a blast with my family watching him play and having a kid rekindle my love for the sport.  I’m not just saying this because he’s my nephew: If I could build a basketball player I’d build Will.  Tall, strong, athletic, high basketball IQ, as unselfish as they come, sees the floor and passes like a guard, takes more pleasure from a good assist than he does scoring, can post up or put it on the floor, can score from everywhere, plays intense defense, and acts exactly the way I want a basketball player to act.  He wants nothing more than to win and he’ll destroy you to do it, but he’s not a dick about it.  He’s the total package.

Will is going to continue his basketball career at the University of Northern Iowa next year.  I know many of the people I mentioned way back 3,000 words ago expected the son of Betsy and Brett to end up at Duke or North Carolina or Wisconsin.  In fact, back then we probably just assumed the son of Hornseth would bypass college completely and take his talents straight to the NBA. I’ve gotten a lot of, “Northern Iowa? Who’s that?” from people I know.  I was lucky enough to be present last summer when Will made up his mind.  The sentiment in the room was, “Are you sure you want to do this now?  There’s a lot of time.”  He said it wouldn’t matter if some “power five” team came calling.  He loved Northern Iowa and nothing would change his mind.  I remember a conversation with him shortly after that and he kept talking about Cedar Falls, the campus, and the people there.  How he really wanted to play for those coaches, but also how he wanted to play in that specific system.  I have spent this past season not only watching De Pere but also familiarizing myself with UNI and their program.  I knew about their legendary NCAA Tournament Cinderella runs of the past 15 years.  I knew who Coach Ben Jacobson was, but I wasn’t aware that everyone who knows him and has played for him says he’s the best coach in the country and that he’s an even better person than he is a coach.  Someone who truly cares for his players, but also knows how to coach basketball as well as anyone.  I had the pleasure of meeting Assistant Coach Seth Tuttle when he attended a De Pere game earlier this year and he couldn’t have been cooler.  I can already see why Will loves those guys.

Then I saw UNI play. Their offense flows beautifully.  Nobody dominates the ball.  They’re constantly passing to the open man.  All five of their starters averaged between 9 and 14 points per game.  Any one of their starters was capable of going off for 20+, but it always came in the flow of the game.  One night it might be Tytan Anderson attacking the basket and Nate Heise shooting and slashing.  The following game it could be Jacob Hutson banging down low and Bowen Born shooting the lights out, or any other combination.  Whatever the situation called for, they could adapt to it, and they went ten deep.  Not everyone can play in that system. It takes a certain type of player. I immediately understood why Will chose to go there.  I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again: Will was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers.  I should’ve known.  He knew better than anyone what was best for him. He didn’t pick the biggest program that was recruiting him.  He picked the best fit.  When UNI signed Will I’m not sure they understood that they were also getting a family who was about to become their biggest fans in the state of Wisconsin.  I’m already dreaming about Will in purple next year alongside the guys I mentioned above.  I can’t wait to see the McLeod Center for the first time with my family and fall in love with this program. Phoebe got a Panther hoodie for Christmas last year. We’re ready.

While I’m excited for his future and everything that lies ahead, I’m still thinking about De Pere and how thankful I am for everything that’s happened until now.  Thankful for all of the coaches, teammates, families, and friends Will had along the way that helped him become the young man that he is.  More importantly, thanks to Will.  Thanks for being so much fun to watch grow up.  Thanks for being the best of both your mom and your dad.  Thanks for being a great son, big brother, nephew, and cousin.  Thanks for being better than all of those ridiculous predictions we had for you before you were born. Thanks for being a better person than you are a basketball player. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of your life.  We’re all incredibly proud of you. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I have not asked for permission to use many of the pictures I have posted here but I thought they enhanced the story. Many are screenshots I’ve taken over the years that I’ve done nothing with. I just have them on my phone. I’m sorry I don’t remember where they came from. De Pere Redbird Basketball’s Facebook page. My Uncle Dave took a few of them. I took some. The baby picture was taken at that Picture People place in the mall. I honestly don’t remember all of them. Not cool, I know. I lack integrity. If you’re seeing this and you took the photo I apologize. I don’t profit from this. Just showing nephew some love. If you took one of these pics e-mail me here and I’ll glad to credit you or take them down if need be.