For Hunter Thorn, baseball has always been a significant part of his life. His dad started his interest in the game when he signed Thorn up for Little League. Thorn also grew up watching his brother play baseball, which further inspired him to play.
“Baseball has probably been the biggest thing in my life,” Thorn said. “My dad got me playing when I was 3 or 4 years old. My brother is five years older than me, and from the time I was a kid, I just watched him play. I chose to be a catcher just because that's what he did, and I just wanted to be like my brother.”
Thorn played baseball at Portage High School before eventually playing at Purdue University Northwest (PNW). After playing on PNW’s team for about five years, Thorn was approached by his pitching coach to coach at Portage High School.
“My PNW pitching coach in college, Shane Prance, asked me about looking at Portage High School once I was done with college, and I've been doing that ever since,” Thorn said.
Thorn is in his third year serving on the baseball coaching staff of Portage High School. In his role, he mentors his athletes both on and off the field, just like one of his coaches did for him when he was a teenager.
“When I was 13 or 14, I had a really good coach, Dave Taylor, who taught me the right way to go about being a baseball player – not just playing the sport, but how to act on and off the field,” Thorn said. “You know how to wear your hat, how to push your hair back when you put your hat on, how to take your hat off when you go into the restaurant, stuff like that.”
In other words, his coach instilled in Thorn how to be the right kind of person.
“Every time I encounter younger players, high school players, and anyone younger than that, I try to teach them the things that my coach back in the day taught me and that always stuck with me,” Thorn said.
Working at his former high school is a dream come true for Thorn.
“I really wanted to go back to where I played,” he said. “I can't see myself going somewhere else besides the place I grew up and played, and I really want to see the kids succeed in the same school that I went to. I want to see the program grow and get back to where we used to be about 10-15 years ago.”
To this day, Thorn is grateful to his dad for enrolling him in baseball.
“I’m thankful that my dad put me in baseball when he did, and he was always there for me,” Thorn said.
Two decades later, baseball remains integral to his life, and his passion for the game is helping others to grow on the field and off.