This story originally appeared in the Nov. 3 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
Brent Sowder has been a history buff since he was a young boy. He used to sit on his grandfather’s lap and listen to him tell stories about World War II. He never missed an opportunity to hear more stories.
“I learned about the Battle of the Bulge and D-Day and thought it was fascinating,” said Sowder, a history teacher and the boys varsity basketball coach at Campbell County High School. “I think the best thing about teaching history is that ‘aha’ moment when the students get it.”
Over the years, Sowder developed a great interest in the American Civil War, so much so he began visiting battlefield sites. He has traveled to Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the Battle of Gettysburg was fought in warfare that resulted in the most casualties of any Civil War battle and is considered the turning point in the war.
“I’ve gone maybe six times,” Sowder said. “I like to go by myself because I want to stay on the battlefield a long time and absorb it. I’ve stayed from 8 a.m. to 9:30 at night. I like to go there and clear my head, get my mind right and kind of restart.”
Sowder didn’t have to undertake a traveling ritual this year to restart things with a fresh perspective. Campbell County did that for him by hiring him as the new Camels head basketball coach, replacing recently retired Aric Russell.
Russell left the bench with the most coaching wins in program history. Sowder is all the way on the other end of the pendulum at Campbell County. He is a first-year high school head basketball coach with zero wins, replacing a school legend that won 284 games, 10 straight 37th District championships and four 10th Region titles for the Camels.
“When you look at all that came before me, it’s a little bit of pressure,” said Sowder, who led the Camels junior varsity to a 21-8 record last season. The squad advanced to the championship game of the Northern Kentucky JV tournament. “But this is also a privilege to have the opportunity to live up to those kinds of results that we’ve had.”
Not only is Sowder coaching in Russell’s shadow, but he is now teaching in Russell’s old classroom, A254. After figuratively stepping into some big shoes, Sowder literally is following in every one of Russell’s footsteps as he takes over the history-laden program after nine years as Russell’s assistant. Sowder was doing that Monday, Oct. 23, when he was going back and forth between his classroom, the main office, the gym and the practice gym, where the Sowder era officially began at 2:30 p.m. with first-day tryouts.
“I had about 20 kids and was missing about a half-dozen that were at football practice,” Sowder said.
The coach took a look around as the sounds of dribbled basketballs mixed with the sweet swishing sound of shots hitting their mark. Sowder had on hand a group of veterans led by Connor Weinel, one of as many as seven seniors, plus a handful of juniors and sophomores and some new faces.
“They were shooting around, and it was just before we started,” Sowder said. “I have to admit I was thinking, ‘Away we go.’”
Sowder’s maiden day of tryouts went well. The hope is it’s the first of many successful firsts for the coach as he forges a new path and attempts to make a little history of his own at Campbell County.
Weinel, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound post player, likes the Camels’ chances even though they lost three starters to graduation, including all-time leading scorer Aydan Hamilton.
“We still have a lot of players who can play and play fast. That’s what we want to do, get up and down the court,” Weinel said. “We have a good coaching staff. We have a lot of fast, athletic players. I think we’ll be pretty good.”
Weinel averaged 6.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game last season. Also returning are fellow seniors Nathan Smith (5.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg), Cole Johnson, Broc Sorgenfrei and junior point guard Garyn Jackson (6.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg). Weinel and Smith were last season’s second- and third-leading rebounders. Smith and Jackson both shot around 45% from 3-point range. Jackson (64.8%) and Weinel (53.6%) were 1-2 in overall field goal shooting percentage.
Sowder has some classroom history with Johnson and Sorgenfrei. Johnson had a perfect score recently on his ACT test. Sorgenfrei is Sowder’s student aide in his U.S. history class.
“The most fascinating thing about this team is the unknown,” Sowder said. “People are kind of taking a deep breath because of the changes. It’s these players’ time to step into the limelight. I’m excited by their opportunity to make some of their own history.”