Even during Bayfield basketball's recent lean years prior to this season's magic March ending, Dillon Hoselton seemed not to think of the program's previous struggles as feast-or-famine.
Rather, each slight taste of success simply made the now-graduated senior hungrier for more.
"Pretty much, sophomore year is where it started-I figured out that that's what I love to do, play basketball," he recently recalled. "My first coach-I think, [Bill] Hesford-at the time gave me a chance on the varsity squad, and that's when I really realized 'I have something special here; I can play.'"
"That's when I decided.by Senior Year, I want to try to get some recruiting done."
Persistence, plus the Wolverines' resurgence, has paid off; two days before suiting up as an infielder for BHS Baseball, hosting the 3A-District 7 Tournament, the unsung shooting guard/small forward revealed at a May 7th ceremony inside the BHS Cafetorium that at the next level, hardball will play second fiddle to hardwood:
Hoselton will hoop, and study, at NCAA Division III Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
And should the urge to swing a bat arise, Rick and Stephanie's son will have a viable connection and reference at MU in Bayfield alumnus Hunter Funkhouser, currently a Sabre junior-to-be pitcher.
"I sent in a recruiting form," said Hoselton, "they contacted me-they knew Hunter from going there to play baseball-and we talked a little. Got 'em some film and they decided they wanted me on their team next year!"
"Getting up early for baseball practices.in the gym because we couldn't have practice on the field, or going to the gym after practice and shooting free throws-it's definitely helped drive me to be the person I am."
With Marian just one campaign removed from a 22-7 overall result and second-ever D-III Tournament appearance (the first was in 2001)-in which MU nearly upset top-ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the first round, losing 66-64-Hoselton will be joining a team eager to rise after regressing to 11-15 overall in 2014-15.
"They do have a good program which I want to do-sports management-and so that definitely tied into what I wanted, because academics come first of course," he said. "But other than that it was basketball; it's what I wanted to do. It was definitely being able to play basketball."
"And also," he noted, "there's family out there, about an hour away, so that's good."
A dialogue with Bayfield head coach Jeff Lehnus ultimately helped seal the deal.
"He just pretty much told me that if it's what I want to do, then go out and do it," Hoselton recalled.
"He believes.if it's not really what you love, and not really what's going to make you work as hard as you can, then it's probably not the thing you should do at the next level. But he talked to me and figured out that's what I wanted to do, and so I went for it!"
