Sherman: In the midst of tragedy, a high school basketball team shows the power of sports
GRETNA, Neb. – This is not a story about high school basketball. It’s not about an esteemed coach who passed away halfway through a season. It is not a story of redemption, sadness or achievement.
It’s about togetherness. This is a story about community and a team that, through its resilience and struggle to honor a lost leader, has revealed what the best of the sport looks like.
Wednesday night, Gretna High School plays at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb. a first-round match in the Class A boys state tournament against Millard North.
Brad Feeken coached the Dragons to win. He coached them with passion known in Nebraska. His death at the age of 48 on December 30, 2023, after a more than two-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer, marked a new chapter for his players.
Gretna starts five seniors and brings two off the bench. Landon Pokorski, Alex Wilcoxson, Alec Wilkins, Kade Cook, Joey Vieth, Chase Doble and Avery Schendt have already secured their inheritance. This week matters little to how they will be remembered — and yet it means so much to them to arrive at the state tournament after months of pain in this position.
On the morning Feeken died, Gretna’s players and coaches gathered at their high school. They felt better equipped to move forward as a group rather than individually. The schedule included a game in the quarterfinals of the Metro Conference holiday tournament later that day.
The Dragons chose to play. Nine hours later, Pokorski sank a game-winning buzzer-beater in an emotionally charged gymnasium. He pointed a finger skyward as teammates heckled him. Pokorski believed Feeken would help him find the net if he placed the ball just right.
Couldn’t have written it better. #Gretna (@gretnabball) upsets Papio South with a buzzer-beater via senior @LandonPokorski just over 12 hours later #Dragons head coach Brad Feeken passed away 🏀🐉💚
@GEHSGriffins @WOWT6News#nebpreps #ForFeek pic.twitter.com/TMu09zUnw9— Grace Boyles (@GraceBBoyles) December 31, 2023
From that moment on, the boys led the way. When Feeken’s condition worsened last fall, parents, teachers and supporters in Gretna prepared to keep the team afloat.
It has proven to be quite the opposite: these seniors inspire a community looking for answers.
“They just keep showing up,” said Travis Lightle, superintendent of Gretna Public Schools. “They just show up. They are there for each other. With the way they treat the fans, the little kids, they’re saying, ‘This is what (Feeken) would want us to do.’ And when you look at them, they play exactly the way he would want them to.
‘They’re not angry. They are not bitter. They just keep doing the right things.”
My view of Gretna basketball is skewed. I’m biased. Too close, too invested.
I have resisted addressing this story professionally for months. But last week something changed. I’ll get to that.
First some background. I have lived in Gretna with my wife Shannon since 2005. Both our children were born here. They grew up in this growing suburb southwest of Omaha, which is still small enough to foster a bond.
Ten years ago I coached T-ball with Bill Heard. His daughter was six. Mine was seven. Heard was an assistant on Feeken’s Gretna bench for many years and took over the basketball team when his old college teammate became too ill to coach.
He has spent the past nine weeks mourning the loss of his best friend. Heard also heads the Gretna softball program and plans to coach both sports as his two children progress through high school.
Feeken won two state titles in 21 years as a head coach, but he impacted more lives in Gretna as a seventh-grade reading teacher. Four years ago, my daughter learned about life in his classroom. There were few teachers who meant more to her.
My son went to his basketball camps. Feeken’s teams embodied his vibrant personality. This piece written by Dirk Chatelain beautifully captures the spirit of Feeken.
When he became ill, the community rallied behind the coach, his wife Jenny and their children Rylinn, 13, Maylee, 11, and John, who turned seven last month.
This was the scene two weeks ago for an event organized at short notice. If there had been space, I have no doubt that more people than live in all of Gretna would have shown up to support Feeken and his family. pic.twitter.com/0dobg200TO
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) December 30, 2023
In his final weeks, Feeken connected with Brad Stevens, general manager and former coach of his beloved Boston Celtics. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg and Creighton’s Greg McDermott expressed his admiration for Feeken.
As news of Feeken’s death spread, my family, like many others, felt compelled to attend the Dragons’ Metro Conference tournament game on December 30. In that gym at Omaha Creighton Prep, the moment of silence and pre-game tribute to Feeken created a mood unlike anything I’ve ever experienced: a mix of disbelief, heartbreak and determination.
In an upper corner of the seating area, Hoiberg watched.
“It was honestly one of the more special games I’ve personally experienced,” the Nebraska coach told me this week.
Gretna jumped out to a 15-point lead at halftime against Papillion-LaVista South only to see it disappear as the weight of the moment took over.
“We will never play in a match like that again,” Pokorski said. “It still doesn’t fully dawn on me how tough that day was, how tough that match was.”
As Pokorski drove to the baseline in the final seconds, with Gretna down 48-47, Hoiberg predicted out loud that the shot would fall.
A city held its breath.
“To see the reaction of the team, those guys all hugging and crying on the field, I know they did it for Brad, what he meant to those kids,” Hoiberg said. “It was emotional. I had a tear in my eye.”
He was far from alone.
The Dragons with Feeken daughters Rylinn, 13 (left) and Maylee, 11, after Gretna’s 65-63 win over Kearney to clinch a spot in the state tournament. (Courtesy of Angie Wilcoxson)
The tears didn’t stop that Saturday night. Nine days after Feeken died, Rylinn, his eldest daughter, paid tribute to her father during his memorial service.
Heard praised Feeken. Pokorski and Wilcoxson spoke about his legacy. For years, they said, Feeken preached to them about the importance of “doing hard things.”
Three of Gretna’s five losses this season came in the first eighteen days of January. It was a difficult time.
“Basketball was secondary,” Heard said. “But basketball was very important because it is the place where we all had to be together. It was clear that the children needed this. I needed it.”
Feeken famously left motivational messages on sticky notes for his players to find. In January, Jenny Feeken took his place, sending text messages to the seven Gretna seniors.
They receive excerpts from “Pound the Stone: 7 Lessons to Develop Grit on the Path to Mastery,” a book Jenny is reading with Rylinn and Maylee.
The frequency of her messages increased last month as tournament time approached. Lately, she has been reminding seniors that they are ready for whatever life has to offer.
“Everything has been difficult for them,” she said. “It helps me. They tell me they like it, so I hope it helps them too.”
The Dragons won nine straight games before suffering a three-point loss in the regular season finale against top-ranked Bellevue West. With the loss, Gretna left the hosting position in the qualifying district tournament for the state tournament and set up a Feb. 27 trip to Kearney High School in central Nebraska.
In Kearney’s hornet’s nest of a 3,000-seat gym, this season’s trajectory changed for Gretna. Basketball came roaring back to the fore. Another chapter began. It was Feeken’s kind of evening. And once again the Dragons showed their strength.
Late in the district final, crowd noise shook the floor. Gretna won 65-63, securing a trip to the state tournament as Kearney halfcourt heave at the buzzer hit the rim.
It’s conceivable that no team in the state could have handled this wild environment as well as Gretna. During the celebration, Rylinn and Maylee cut the last strands of the net from the edges. The nets returned to Gretna with the girls.
“Just one of those moments that is so much bigger than a ball game,” Heard said.
Likewise, Heard said, the state tournament often stirs up exaggerated emotions.
Gretna has felt the postseason pressure in recent seasons. Last year Millard North defeated the Dragons in Lincoln in the semi-final. Officials brandished a Pokorski bucket in the final seconds. Video of the play shows Feeken stomping toward the action before Millard held North for a 54-52 win.
The same Mustangs eliminated Gretna in the semifinals two years ago and in district play in 2021. The Dragons’ history against Millard North looms large in their minds, Pokorski said.
But pressure for Gretna? No chance with this team.
“When you’ve been through what we’ve been through off the court,” said Pokorski, the unflappable point guard who will play at Southwest Minnesota State, “it usually makes basketball a little easier. We have already done what we had to do this year.
“Our goal was much bigger than basketball.”
(Top photo of the five senior starters of Bill Heard and Gretna (seated), courtesy of Nicole Stuchlik)