WHITE PIGEON — Shawn Strawser enjoyed the time he had coaching his son Ty on the basketball courts.
He managed to coach him on the football field and in track as well. But the time spent roaming the sidelines while Ty and the White Pigeon Chiefs were on the basketball courts holds a special place in Strawser’s heart.
“Honestly, coaching a kid is an easy thing to do. At the same time if it’s done right, I don’t think there’s anything more special than being able to be a part of your kid’s experiences,” Strawser said. “I couldn’t be more proud of him and the season he had. He has put more time in this gym than anyone I can ever remember.”
Ty was recently named as a Division 3 recipient of the all-state basketball team by the Michigan Sports Writers. The writers met last week in Lansing to select the teams. Ty was named to the honorable mention squad for Division 3.
Coach Strawser credited the time and effort put in by Ty to continue to get better as a big reason for the all-state honor. It was also nice, he said, that he was the basketball coach and had access to the facilities. While taking no credit for himself, Strawser said spending time with his son in the gym was important.
“All that shooting and coming up to the gym spending hours in here definitely has paid off. I don’t think people realize how much time and work he put into basketball,” Strawser said. “At the same time, he was lucky that his dad was a coach and had the will to let him into the gym so he could get those extra shots and time in the gym to work on this game.”
For his senior year, Ty scored at 25.2 points per game on average. His shooting prowess from beyond the arc proved to be a big part of being able to score so many points. He connected on 93 of 241 shots from downtown this year at 39 percent. Those 93 triples were a school record for White Pigeon and for his career, he connected for 254, which is also the school’s best mark which helped him record a Chief-best 606 points this year.
Ty earned SouthWest10 MVP honors this year and finished with 1,268 total points, second best at White Pigeon.
“Some of the things he did this year still blow my mind. I truly believe he had one of the best seasons in White Pigeon history,” Strawser said. “I don’t know what else to say. I could go on and on, but at the same time I hate doing that because it’s hard for me to talk about my kid. But Ty is a player and his work ethic was outstanding. I’m just lucky to have been able to of had a front row seat.”
Contact Sports Editor Brandon Watson at bwatson@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @BwatsonSJ.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: White Pigeon’s Ty Strawser named all-state by Michigan Sports Writers
Reporting by Brandon Watson, Sturgis Journal / Sturgis Journal
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