For years now teams going up against Hartville have had to take a difficult ride on the Gus Bus. Gus Sinning that is. Our Athlete of the week is the leading scorer on the basketball team and the ace on the baseball squad. And he always gives his Eagles a fighting chance.
After a dominating performance at the Blue and Gold Tournament this season, Hartville’s Gus Sinning heard some of the *unique* calls we made during his highlights. “I walked into church the next day, and everybody was saying, ‘Sinning is winning,” said Gus, a senior on the baseball and basketball team. “That one kind of took off around here. ‘Sinning never looked so good.’ And they really liked that one because we were at church. We were all laughing about it.”
His game is no laughing matter. An inside-outside presence in basketball. And he’s a throwback on the baseball diamond. No batting gloves. “Ever since we were little kids, it’s always been helmet and bat,” said Brock Jones, a senior on the baseball team.
As a pitcher he’s averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning. With an ERA under 0.70. “He’s always been bigger than everybody,” Brock said.
Whatever the sport, Gus imposes his will. But he swears he’s not a bully anywhere else. “I try not to be,” he said, “Depends on the situation, I guess. Not like out of my way. But like, winning? Yeah I’ll probably bully someone if they’re in between me and winning. But not just in the hallways or anything like that. I’m not going to steal your lunch money.”
In fact, when he’s not playing he’s actually standing up for the little guys, tutoring Mrs. Fletcher’s kindergarten class. “I’m in there sixth hour,” Gus said. “And it just so happens to be snack and movie hour. So I go in there and gets some hugs from the kids and whatnot. And I get down and get a cupcake from the kids some days.”
They even came to his signing day when he put pen to paper to play baseball for College of the Ozarks next year.
Of course they let him know when they’re at his games. “They were chanting Mr. ‘Gus. Mr. Gus.’ You can tell they really looked up to him,” Brock said.
Gus always makes time to go fishing with his friends. “He loves suckers,” Brock said. “The fish. We do a lot of grabbing and gigging together. It’s one of his favorite foods.”
Hartville doesn’t have football. But despite his size, Gus isn’t so sure that would be his game “I don’t know if I’d have been any good or not,” Gus said. “I’m kind of soft. I probably would have tried it though. Probably would have quit after a couple years.”
But this baseball season, Hartville’s got no quit in them as long as they’ve got Gus.
