By GARY VAN CLEAVE
Special to Great Bend Post
Jarod Bauman has lived in pain the past couple years, but it’s not stopping him from pursuing his dream of playing basketball at the next level.
The 2023 Fairfield High graduate now living in Sterling recently had arthroscopic labrum surgery with a six-month recovery. He’s in a brace until July 8 from his May 31 surgery.
“I’ve been progressing a decent amount right now,” said Bauman, who signed with Sterling College but transferred to Fort Hays State after the 2023 fall semester. “I’m still in my sling until July 8, but I can do minimal movement without pain which is progress.”
To understand how he’s gotten to this point, you have to realize the number of injuries and surgeries he’s endured in his 19 years on Planet Earth.
In the beginning
His injury misfortunes began his freshman year at Fairfield.
Bauman missed two football games with a concussion and four games with a broken foot. The broken foot caused him to miss six basketball games that year.
A severe ankle sprain caused him to miss six games his sophomore football season. Bauman suffered a wrist sprain his junior year but didn’t miss any games.
Lady Luck wasn’t kind his senior year when he got a severe concussion in the second football game, leaving on a stretcher in ambulance, and missed three games with a concussion. In his third game back, he broke his collarbone and missed the final game of the season.
He had surgery to repair his right collarbone when a metal plate and seven screws were inserted in October, 2022. It caused him to miss six basketball games.
In June, 2023 he underwent another surgery on his collarbone to take the plate and screws out.
His injuries were far from being over.
“In November of 2023 I was doing bench press and went to pop my neck, as one would normally do,” Bauman said. “Upon popping my neck I felt a sharp pain and was very dizzy. I responded by going to my room where I was eventually found on the floor by a roommate in what was thought to be a potential seizure scenario.”
While under seizure protocol, Bauman was unable to drive. By February, they eventually determined that my incident was not a seizure and he returned to driving.
“As I was driving from Sterling back up to school in Hays, I suffered some sort of panic attack which could be associated with nerve damage which is cause to believe that I may have thoracic outlet syndrome,” he said.
He was taken to the ER in Russell, where they did an X-Ray of my shoulder and found out that I had an AC joint separation. The torn labrum was revealed later.
Inspiration to others
Fairfield teammate Ashtin Cochran said Bauman would never give up in his pursuit to play basketball again.
“He always kept working no matter the state he was in or the pain he felt,” Cochran said. “He always inspired others to never stop. Jarod has one of the highest drive and work ethics to do great things I have ever seen. I’m always rooting for him in everything he does.”
“It just feels like I keep getting setback after setback. But then I tell myself that a setback is a setup for a comeback,” Bauman said. “A good comeback story has a setback. I’m trying to write a great comeback story.”
A comeback story that he hopes gets him a chance to play semi-pro basketball when he’s done with his schooling at FHSU.
“Ultimately I want to be healthy so that I can get in better shape physically, and so that I am able to work on and play basketball,” Bauman said.
Hopefully a spot someday in the Mid-America Basketball Association (MABA) with the Central Kansas Twisters based out of Hesston. The coaches of the Twisters were previously coaches at Fairfield before Bauman was in high school.
“I want to do things that I’m proud of. That I can tell other people what I accomplished,” Bauman said. “I want to be able to tell my kids one day that I never let anything keep me down. I want my kids to be able to say that their dad is a professional athlete, or at least a semiprofessional athlete.”
“He’s always dreamed of it. During high school, I feel most of his motivation came from wanting to make it to the next level,” Cochran said.
He played basketball and football four years at Fairfield and tennis and track two years each. He averaged nine points a game his senior season. He logged game-high bests of 18 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks and eight assists. The point guard made six 3s for his career high.
“Probably can’t shoot until October but won’t be fully cleared until at least December,” Bauman said.
“Jarod was always more than willing to create points from defense than from an offensive state,” Fairfield teammate Calen Wente said. “He wanted pressure on the opponents’ offense because he wanted the ball that bad.”
“It would allow me to feel fulfilled and that all the time I’ve spent playing basketball hasn’t gone to waste,” Bauman said. “Even in my high school days we as a team never accomplished anything. We never had a winning season, never made state. I would love to have the chance to play again at the next level, and be able to push towards the goal of team accomplishments. I want to win.”