What would we do without high school sports?
“I don’t know. I really don’t,’ Brian Hochevar said.
Even in an era of extremes, it’s a question difficult to imagine for someone such as the Wray boys basketball coach, who has participated as a prep player, coach, father and fan for decades.
He would be perfect for one of those sullen television commercials that ponders such extraordinary scenarios, attitude upon request.
“I played all through high school, played three sports and played (basketball) in college,’ Hochevar said. “I don’t know what we’d do. They’re so ingrained into our lifestyle.’
The former schoolboy star at Pueblo South, now just a few months shy of his 50th birthday, has been quietly beaming while riding an in-state odyssey with his wife and children mostly on the small-school enrollment level, but, oh, so big in terms of results, relationships and reality.
There’s an argument to be made: If the Hochevar name isn’t tops on Colorado’s list of first families of student-athletes in the past decade, then it’s definitely not too far back in the family album.
Brittany Hochevar, 24, The Denver Post two-time volleyball player of the year at Fowler in the late 1990s went on to Long Beach State and became a two-time All-American (at different positions), including academically. She earned degrees in marketing and broadcast journalism, was a prominent member of USA Volleyball and an Olympic alternate and is coming off a year playing professionally in Puerto Rico.
Options for the 6-foot-1 star include heading outside to the sand of the Pro Beach tour, perhaps the biggest prize to be realized in her personal dream catcher.
Luke Hochevar, 6-5, 210, was an all-state right-hander at Fowler in 2002, is the University of Tennessee’s No. 1 pitcher with an 8-2 record as a junior, was on the SEC’s all-Academic team, leads the highly competitive SEC in strikeouts, innings pitched and victories, and in some circles is projected as the nation’s top pro pitching prospect, possibly the second overall selection in June’s amateur draft.
Their father, Brian, has more than 300 victories as a boys basketball coach with stops at Cripple Creek-Victor, Denver’s now defunct Temple Baptist, Mullen, Fowler, Lamar, Pueblo County, Pueblo Centennial and Wray. He also coached in college at Oklahoma and Southern Colorado, and Lamar and Northeastern junior college.
Their mother, Carmen Hochevar, was a multisport standout at Wray, played basketball and volleyball at Southern Colorado (now CSU-Pueblo) and coached volleyball at Lamar and Fowler before taking over at Wray. She also spent time at Lamar Junior College.
By the way, both parents are teachers.
There’s more – and the best may be on his way. Dylan Hochevar, 6-3, 185, is a sophomore at Wray, where he helped the Eagles to the 1A state football title game as a quarterback-safety. He started at guard in basketball and recently pitched a two-hit shutout and struck out 12 in improving to 3-1. Most important, he is breaking into honors as a student.
Take note of the above. Nearly all of it has taken place on no higher than the 2A level in Colorado, yet the Hochevars’ small- school excellence in academics and athletics has proved as much of a springboard to the nation’s elite next levels as any 5A school in or near Denver.
Mom and Dad remain in tiny Wray – Carmen wanted to be near her mother – despite two of their three children globe- hopping out of California for volleyball and in the ballparks of America’s toughest college conference, perhaps soon in the cathedrals of the major leagues.
“Small-town Americana is cool,’ Brian Hochevar said. “And thank God for cellphones.’
Hochevar pleads ignorance about how he and his family have been so fortunate and claims he has proof. Years ago, he had a chance to buy land in the Cripple Creek area, before the casinos. He passed.
But he has bet heavily on combining studies and sports for kids, notably his own.
His luck, definitely a residue of design, has proved far more valuable than any profit off a land deal.
“Hand-in-hand,’ Hochevar said. “It’s just so much fun to compete. You can compete in both.’
From his beginnings as a youth in the Steel City to an array of small towns, Hochevar as a teacher, dad and coach has observed so many changes on the high school sports level.
“In this day and age, everybody is a Division I athlete,’ he said, but, in general, parents haven’t bothered him over the years “because they think I’m nuts, so I guess they leave me alone.’
He remembers the only time his father met his coach was when his mother died, and now “there are people online rating seventh-graders.’
However, one thing remains constant, at least for him and his family.
“It’s still about the kids,’ he said.
No high school sports?
Hochevar just shook his head.
Staff writer Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-820-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
