Courtesy Brent Deckert
One of the most intense and outspoken coaches in South Dakota turned soft and speechless when trying to describe the emotional scene from Friday night in the Brandon Valley High School gymnasium.
Joining the KWSN Coaches Show Saturday morning, Brent Deckert choked up and then paused to gather himself and say, “that’s a tough one” when asked what it meant to him to see, to his surprise, over 70 former BVHS boys basketball assistant coaches and players — including “The Bachelorette” star Dale Moss and his fiance Clare Crawley — showing up to support him as his third-ranked Lynx beat No. 2 Yankton 62-60 in a comeback thriller.
It is one of Deckert’s favorite wins and perhaps as meaningful as when he led the Lynx to his first state title after 19 years at the helm in 2019.
Deckert, who learned he had Stage 4 lung cancer in August, was his same feisty, fist-pumping, ref-hounding self on Friday as BV battled back from a 10-point second half deficit and held one of South Dakota’s best-ever players Matthew Mors to one second half field goal.
It was a fitting tribute to Deckert, who has been BV’s head coach for 21 years and whose motto is “The Game Honors Toughness,” or “T.G.H.T.” Moss was one of many in the crowd who wore T-shirts emblazoned with those letters and the phrase “We fight together, Coach Deckert.” Proceeds from T-shirt sales are funding Deckert’s recovery.
“I can’t put it into words,” Deckert said. “There were a lot of people in the gym last night that I wasn’t expecting to see, and there’s a lot of people who did a lot of things behind the scenes putting it together,” Deckert said.
A post-game reception was held at a local establishment after the game, where Deckert could spend more time with those he calls his “other sons.” Deckert stayed until the end, with a permanent smile on his face, according to the event’s organizer Cathy Nikalson, the mother of two of Deckert’s former BV players.
“It just proves — if there’s some young coaches out there listening, I would want them to do a couple things, and one is stay in coaching, and stay in your community, and fight through whatever it is you have to,” Deckert said.
“Because, what’s going on here (in Brandon) is so much bigger than me. It’s much more about this whole community and the guys here and all the people I’ve been able to work with over the last 21 years. It’s quite humbling. It’s very overwhelming, and I can’t find words for it.”
To hear Deckert’s emotional KWSN appearance, click play arrow below:
Deckert started his cancer treatment at Sanford hospital in early September. He has gone through chemotherapy and takes gene therapy pills. His most recent scans showed there is no disease progression with the cancer that is in his bones and abdomen, and the size of the tumor in his lung has shrunk by a third.
But the cancer has also metastasized to his lymph nodes, shoulder blade, hip, and spine. The 52-year-old has experienced mounds of exhaustion and has needed his current assistant coaches to run the show some days.
Having to stay home and rest instead of going to school on those days has been an odd adjustment for someone who has been a lifelong workaholic, but Deckert feels fortunate he is able to coach.
And his appreciation goes well beyond coaching.
“The things you really think that matter (now) don’t,” Deckert said. “I don’t take for granted seeing my daughter (Kennedi, a BVHS hoops freshman) in the morning and seeing my son (Jaksen, a senior point guard for BV).
“I just don’t take for granted some of that stuff. Maybe, I kind of walked out of the house, in the past, without giving my wife (Jill) a hug and a kiss goodbye, and those days are gone. We don’t let those times go anymore.”
Deckert is not the only BVHS head coach going through the fight of his life. Football coach Chad Garrow was hospitalized in early December after doctors discovered two tumors on his brain, just a couple weeks after he led the Lynx to their second state title in three years. After spending a couple days in critical care at Sanford, Garrow’s family transferred him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he underwent a brain biopsy, the final results of which and subsequent treatment plan are pending.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Garrow, and some of his assistant coaches and other members of the community have chipped in both finances and labor to work on projects in his garage and basement that he had been delaying.
“I know what (Chad) is going through,” Deckert said. “I haven’t taken the time to go over and see him, but I will shortly. We’re certainly keeping him in our prayers and wishing him well.
“Like anyone else who has cancer, I think that when the first two weeks of the shock is over, Chad will realize all the people he’s got fighting for him in this community and he’ll realize all the love that’s all around. I think he’s going to feel that and it’s going to help him a lot.
“I think what cancer’s going to realize is, maybe, if we do this thing right, cancer just screwed with the wrong two people.”
As for Moss, Deckert says he and his former mid-2000’s Lynx standout — who played four years at South Dakota State before moving to New York City to become a model and broadcaster — speak often, and Deckert is “so happy” Moss has found someone that makes him happy. And Deckert a message for those who wonder about Clare, who along with Moss has become a bit of a tabloid target:
“After speaking with her, and she spent an evening with (our family) in our house, she seems just like a regular Midwestern girl. So, everybody can relax a little bit and be happy. They’re a really good couple. A really good couple.”
To hear the full interview with Deckert, click here!
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