By Jacob Brown, Staff Writer
Senior men's basketball player Sam Somerhalder is now the owner of the No. 1 spot in Newman history for career rebounds at 583. Somerhalder broke Newman’s previous record during the team’s Feb. 14 game against Fort Hays State.
Somerhalder said he knew during the game he wasn't far off from the record and that it felt great to be leaving Newman with a record like that.
When Somerhalder got to Newman during the 2022-2023 season, he was asked to focus on offensive rebounds for the Jets, he said. Somerhalder has led the Jets every year in offensive rebounds since his freshman season.
He grabbed 172 rebounds during his junior year, his highest rebounding year. And rebounding isn’t the only thing Somhalder can do. He also passed the 1,000 career points on Feb 21 against Emporia State.
“His hard work and consistency have allowed him to achieve great things in our program,” said head basketball coach R.J. Allen.
Somerhalder was raised in Shawnee and played for St. James Academy in Lenexa. His high school coach was Stan Dohm, who was a part of Newman’s 1999-2000 Hall of Fame basketball team. Dohm, who also coached Allen at Hutchinson Community College, connected Somerhalder with Newman.
“I have had teammates come and go every year,” Somerhalder said. “I’ve had success. I've had failures. But it's been great.”
Somerhalder said he feels he’s grown as a player every year and that the MIAA conference is pretty tough, which has forced him to grow mentally and physically,
“I did not expect Sam to accomplish all that he has achieved here at Newman, but it didn’t take long during his freshman season to realize he was going to be special,” Allen said. “Even more impressive has been his growth as a person. Sam continues to amaze us, and his leadership skills have developed tremendously over time.”
PHOTO: Courtesy, Newman Athletics
