ASHVILLE — A stellar career and record-setting final season led to Teays Valley’s Brody Fields taking home the 79th Bob Bowsher Award as Pickaway County’s top senior boys basketball player.
Fields finishes his four-year varsity run at Teays Valley as the school’s all-time leading scorer for boys basketball and was named First Team All-Ohio Capital Conference Buckeye Division, First Team All-Central District in Division II, a member of the District 10 Super Team (encompassing Division I and II schools) and was announced earlier today as receiving Third Team All-Ohio honors in Division II.
“It means a lot — I know there’s a lot of great names on there,” Fields said, referring to the Bob Bowsher Trophy. “I saw Dale Lambert’s, Mr. (Bob) Hoover — I still talk to him to this day, he still comes to the game to support, and I can’t be more thankful, and all my teammates, my coaches, and my parents, and, you know, all my family members that helped me get to this level.
“There’s a lot of great names on there since the 1940s and it means the world to me. Coach (Brian) Barnett and Coach Browning, I talked to them like, man, I want to win it so bad. I always told them that, and now my name’s on there. It’s a super surreal feeling, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
“You don’t get the chance to see something like this happen every day, and it doesn’t come around every year. When he first walked in here, during some open gyms as a seventh grader, we’re like, wow, this kid’s gonna be special,” Barnett said, “and you just watch the amount of work that he put in over time, year after year after year. Give him his credit — he has worked relentless on this, and it’s a very deserving honor for him.”
Fields will graduate and leave his name all over the Vikings’ record book with the biggest record coming 15 games into the season when he passed Lambert as the leading scorer in program history. He finished with 1,596 points, good for 11th all-time in the area, just behind Hoover who played for Ashville High School before consolidation created Teays Valley.
“I was not very feeling very good that day, but then me and my dad were watching film of the game before when I played Lancaster and he starts smiling, like, if you get that same amount, you might do something great. I was like, oh, okay,” Fields said. “I knew I was getting close to it. Then I hit a few threes and then I kind of just got in like a little bit of a zone and I really wanted to win that one. Obviously getting the record was cool, but I wanted to win really bad (it ended up a four-point loss), because we were really close and we were down two starters. So that was a great game.
“My teammates were getting me open, I’m coming off screens, passing to me and getting wide open shots. So that was a really fun game and definitely one of the games I’ll remember for the rest of my life for sure.”
After setting freshmen and sophomore seasonal scoring records, Fields got his 1,000th point midway through his junior season, putting the all-time record in reach.
“Once he got his thousand, we knew this record was going to fall. We just didn’t know when,” Barnett said. “Over at Reynoldsburg, that night, he caught fire, and he did what he does, what Brody does. The shot he made to break the record was unbelievable, because he got hammered on that three-point shot, and he made the bucket, no call.
“But that’s the symbol of his career. Especially in the OCC, he would drive the lane, he would do this, he would get knocked to the floor, no call, he’d get back up and go right back into it. And that’s his work ethic. That’s him in a nutshell.”
As he’s moved up through the ranks, Fields said he’s tried to share his love for the game with the younger kids coming up.
“I really enjoy it — from the kids’ camps, I love doing that and just seeing the little kids. I make sure, like, if it’s a timeout or halftime, give them a little quick fist bump, just because I know I was that kid at one point,” Fields said. “I was a kid who was coming to the games, watching Peyton Weiler and some of those guys, and Cam Dyas-Rogers, who won the same award, just watching those guys. I wanted to be the same guy, and those guys motivated me, so I want to be the same inspiration to those kids.”
While his varsity career might have gotten off to slow start, Barnett said Fields’ work ethic set him apart.
“What’s really amazing, and I don’t know whether people know this or not, his first varsity game, he went for zero points. He didn’t score a point as far as that game, and 1,596 points later, look where he’s at,” Barnett said. “That’s something that is attributed to him, because, when he says, ‘coaches let me in the morning,’ it’s him. I know on all the snow days that we had, in the summer days when we can’t practice, I know he’s finding someplace to shoot the basketball. And that’s why he is as skilled as he is.
“One thing he didn’t tell you, he’s too humble to tell you, is when he hurt his wrist, and he was out for three or four months there over this past summer between his junior and senior year, I would drive by his house and he would be out there shooting left-handed. Because that’s how much this kid loves the game.”
Among the many accomplishments over his career, Fields is the first Pickaway County boys player to be first-team all-league all four years. He did it in the Mid-State League as a freshman and sophomore before Teays Valley transitioned to the OCC where he was able to earn that honor as a junior and senior.
“My coaches helped me and, obviously, my teammates have gotten me to that level to get those accomplishments — it just means a lot,” Fields said. “I can’t be more thankful just to be where I’m at and get those accomplishments.”
While his days as a Viking on the court have come to an end, his days as a Bear are upcoming. Fields will be headed to Shawnee State to study sports management, with a minor in coaching, and will be playing basketball as the university makes the move into NCAA Division II.
“I’m a freshman again, so it all restarts for me. It kind of gives me a little bit of flashbacks from when I was a freshman, and I know it’s going to be a lot of hard work. I talk to the head coach from Shawnee State and he says it’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be worth it,” Fields said.
Getting that college scholarship was another part of Fields’ motivation as he worked on his game over the years.
“I told my parents I didn’t want them paying for me to play the game of basketball. I wanted to make sure I put in enough work, so they don’t have to do that,” he said. “That’s been my goal is to play and everything’s paid for. So that’s always been my dream.”
While Fields goes off to pursue his dream, the Vikings will be working to replace his presence on and off the court.
“Our last game, when he walked out of the locker room and out that door, Coach Browning and I both looked at each other and go, ‘Well, we gotta replace 1,600 points somehow,’” Barnett said. “It’s going to be hard, but I’m going to miss him, going to miss his family and everybody that goes with him.”
Bob Bowsher Memorial Trophy winners
1948 — James Picklesimer, Williamsport
1949 — Robert Pontius, Walnut
1950 — William Rowley, Darby
1951 — Lester Sanders, Monroe
1952 — Harley Evans, Atlanta
1953 — William Evans, Pickaway
1954 — Kenneth Kirk, New Holland
1955 — Harold Gerhardt, Atlanta
1956 — Gene Stonerock, Williamsport
1957 — Dave Smith, Pickaway
1958 — Richard Hoover, Ashville
1959 — Gary Valentine, Saltcreek
1960 — Robert Hoover, Ashville
1961 — Robert Eitel, Jackson
1962 — Thomas Rathburn, Ashville
1963 — Rick Pond, Williamsport
1964 — Tom Seeley, Monroe
1965 — Bill Fortner, Teays Valley
1966 — Neil Coleman, Westfall
1967 — Russ Merrin, Logan Elm
1968 — Charles Palmer, Westfall
1969 — Tom Lightle, Westfall
1970 — Dale Lambert, Teays Valley
1971 — Mark Knece, Logan Elm
1972 — Terry Morrison, Circleville
1973 — Tom Sykes, Logan Elm
1974 — Craig Pontius, Teays Valley
1975 — Perry Hoskins, Circleville
1976 — Biff Bumgarner, Circleville
1977 — Chuck Cave, Logan Elm
1978 — Toren Bensonhaver, Circleville
1979 — Terry Wright, Logan Elm
1980 — John Sanders, Teays Valley
1981 — Jerry Mowery, Westfall
1982 — Brad Rivers, Westfall
1983 — Doug Hoover, Teays Valley
1984 — Luke McConnell, Circleville
1985 — Marc Gothard, Teays Valley
1986 — Kyle Wolfe, Westfall
1987 — Trond Smith, Logan Elm
1988 — Shane Roese, Teays Valley
1989 — Mike Miller, Teays Valley
1990 — Donn Rathburn, Teays Valley
1991 — Chris Strawser, Circleville
1992 — Ashley Hoskins, Circleville
1993 — Brian Dollison, Westfall
1994 — Brandon Lambert, Teays Valley
1995 — Tony Picklesimer, Westfall
1996 — Trevor Younkin, Teays Valley
1997 — Thom Patete, Westfall
1998 — Lee Gunn, Logan Elm
1999 — Brad Brooks, Logan Elm
2000 — Tyler Schleich, Westfall
2001 — Adam Stewart, Teays Valley
2002 — Matt Fosnaugh, Teays Valley
2003 — Craig Stewart, Circleville
2004 — Drew Shaw, Westfall
2005 — Tyler Evans, Logan Elm
2006 — Evan Blake, Logan Elm
2007 — Cory Cooper, Circleville
2008 — Steve Largent, Logan Elm
2009 — Tim Congrove, Logan Elm
2010 — Adam Blake, Logan Elm
2011 — Nate Anderson, Teays Valley
2012 — Nathan Moats, Circleville
2013 — Alek Stonerock, Westfall
2014 — Dillon Young, Logan Elm
2015 — Preston Gothard, Teays Valley
2016 — Michael Camp, Circleville
2017 — Ridge Young, Logan Elm
2018 — Isaac Roese, New Hope
2019 — Ryan Wolfe, Teays Valley
2020 — Jay Wyman, Westfall
2021 — Isaac Ward, Logan Elm
2022 — Cameron Dyas-Rogers, Teays Valley
2023 — Clayton Rhyne, New Hope
2024 — Briley Cramer, Circleville
2025 — Xander Rink, New Hope
2026 — Brody Fields, Teays Valley
— Bob Bowsher was an outstanding student-athlete who graduated from Circleville High School in 1940. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in November of 1942 and was serving in France where he was twice wounded in action — the second leading to his death on July 14, 1944. The award was created in 1948 and was initially presented to the most outstanding player in the county tournament.