PLAYING BIG NUMBERS: ADVANCE'S BROSHUIS LETS OTHERS TOOT HIS HORN

ADVANCE -- Averaging 22 points per basketball game is impressive.

So is taking over a game in the fourth quarter.

So is the ability to take the ball to the hoop, draw contact, get to the foul line and convert foul shots with old-school regularity.

And throwing a baseball 91 miles per hour at age 18.

And being a top trumpet player in a renowned high school band.

And scoring a 32 on the ACT test.

And maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average, tops in your class.

To do any of these things would be outstanding.

To do all of them is Garrett Broshuis.

"You should try to do your best at everything," said Broshuis, who has propelled the Advance Hornets to a 10-1 record and a No. 7 state ranking in the Class 1A poll. "It's the work ethic that makes the person. It's great to be a good basketball player and baseball player, but it comes back to academics because you'll rely on them all your life."

What makes the 6-foot-2 senior unique is not his golden touch nor his golden arm. It is not his intelligence nor his seemingly down-to-earth personality, though he is larger than life in his home town.

What makes Broshuis different than any other athlete in Southeast Missouri is that he is all these things. The school brain, the school jock and Mr. Congeniality all in one.

"His ego outwardly is not very big," said Advance basketball coach Jim Hall. "You wouldn't know from his attitude that he is having success in so many areas. He took the ACT for the first time and scored right at the top of where you could score. He's accomplished a lot of things in a lot of areas. One of the neat things is his attitude and personality. He's one of the best-liked kids there. The only thing that bothers me is that he is smarter than I am.

"He's like a coach on the floor. One of the things that I've noticed is that I could show the team an offensive play on the floor and could walk through each of the five positions hoping that each of the five players will know what they're supposed to do. But I quickly found out that as soon as I finished, he could tell each of the five what to do. He has the ability to grasp the whole idea."

Broshuis, who will be playing baseball on scholarship at the University of Missouri, is easily one of the top three or four basketball players in the region.

It was evident how valuable he is to his team when he lifted the Hornets to the finals of the University High Christmas Tournament.

When Advance, seeded fifth, was in trouble against top-seeded Charleston, it was Broshuis who took the game over down the stretch. He hit big threes. He brought the ball up the court. And, perhaps most importantly, he made perfect passes to wide-open teammates. In all, he scored 33 points against Charleston, which had won 13 U-High Championships and had won two in a row.

"He's just a real leader in every sense of the word," said Hall. "The greatest compliment I can give him is basically the level-headedness he has and the even attitude he has with things. He's got a maturity beyond his age. He can take the good and the bad without a lot of emotion. If you came into a basketball game, you wouldn't know if he was 20 ahead or behind."

Perhaps one reason Broshuis doesn't get overly excited about certain situations is because he simply doesn't have time.

"It's a balancing act," said Broshuis. "I just try to concentrate on the task at hand. When I'm at school, I concentrate on doing well on tests. When I'm at basketball or baseball practice, I concentrate on what I'm doing there. Then I might have another test to study for later that night. I just try to make the most of the time that I have."

Broshuis' American Legion coach Ron Michel told the perfect story of Broshuis making the most of his time.

Michel was hospitalized after having thyroid surgery on Sept. 13.

"Four or five days later, I was at home and Garrett gave me a call," Michel said. "He had heard I was in the hospital and wondered how I was. He was the only kid on the team who called and we talked about an hour on the phone. That's the type of kid he is.

"You hear so many negative things about kids these days, but it's kids like Garrett who make me proud to coach. I can't really say enough about the kid. He's just a class individual. I've never heard a curse word come out of his mouth. He's just a well-mannered young man."

Though Broshuis is a standout basketball player, his athletic future is definitely on the mound.

"His future is baseball," Michel said. "He's got the physical talent and the mental capacity for the game. Garrett will probably put on some weight and I think he'll be able to help Missouri his freshman year. I don't look for him to red shirt. Before it's said and done, he'll win a few games for Mizzou his freshman year.

"In the summer, I had college scouts calling all the time. Even a pro scout came up to me asking about him. A bunch were up at St. Louis in a tournament up there. We threw him against what we thought was the best team in the tournament and boy did he step up and open some eyes. We got beat 2-1, but it was no fault of his."

One of those scouting Broshuis was Southwest Missouri State coach Keith Guttin. Guttin contacted Michel about Broshuis and wondered about his academic status. Michel knew Broshuis was a good student, but gave Guttin the phone number to the school where he could check for sure.

"Next time he called, I asked (Guttin) how his grades were," Michel said. "And he said, Oh God, I couldn't believe it. Never in my life have I recruited a kid who got a 32 on his ACT and had a perfect grade-point average.'"

Broshuis, who throws a fastball, slider and change up and changes speeds on his curve ball, posted an earned-run average of 1.25 for the Legion team this past summer.

"This didn't all come natural," said Michel. "He's got a lot of ability, but he's worked to get where he is right now."

The same can be said for Broshuis' academic success.

"I would say that I'm not the smartest person in my class," said Broshuis. "I consider myself a smart person, but I have to work a little harder to achieve what I want to achieve."

Broshuis said he didn't know exactly what his major will be at college.

From all indications he could do anything he wants to do.

It seems he already has.