By Eric Killough
Freelance writer
Special to the Tribune
Kansas State University (KSU) junior and Pratt High School graduate Matthew Hook is proudly representing his Pratt baseball roots as a student equipment manager for the KSU baseball team, a team currently ranked 22nd in the nation. Hook played third base for Pratt High School’s varsity baseball team and has great memories of his time there while playing for Head Coach Ron Hill.
“My best memories of baseball at Pratt High School were being with my buddies every day and regardless of the outcomes I just loved to be able to play my favorite sport. My time there shaped me as a baseball player by teaching me to persevere and helping me realize my passions and potential. That was important when I lost my sophomore season due to Covid and had to have shoulder surgery that summer. It definitely made me grateful for the last two seasons of baseball I had with my buddies.”
Hook’s head coach at Pratt High, Ron Hill said that one of Matt’s greatest attributes was that he was a great teammate with an infectious smile and personality, always willing to do what it took.
“Matt had coachability, effort, attitude, was a fun guy to be around, and had a ‘hardnosed, two strike approach,’” Hill said. “My fondest memory of Matt is that he always had the dirtiest uniform on the team. That was his approach to the game. Matt had to work on things sometimes harder than others, but he always did what was needed to make himself better.”
Hill said Matt took early steps of the path that led him from playing and towards coaching.
“I knew Matt wanted to stay with baseball when he helped me coach a couple of summers. Matt worked on doing little things like throwing BP and hitting fungo, and he did them well,” Hill said.
An example of Matt’s early leadership is in a story Hill tells about Hook personally developing the player that replaced him at Pratt High. That player was Barrett Bolen and as Hill tells it Hook “put his arm around him and made him into a very good player as well.”
Hill said he was not surprised at all by Hook’s success and had some advice, “Matt, don’t change a thing. Be you and glorify the Lord with everything you do. Love yah, keep rocking it, Hooker!”
After high school, Hook said he considered several options including staying local and attending Pratt Community College (PCC). He decided to take a chance at Hutchinson Community College (HCC), and it is there he found his next opportunity waiting. Then head coach of HCC’s baseball team, and now a coach and teacher at Pratt High where his own son Owen is a standout athlete, Ryan Schmidt, helped Hook to the next level in his journey.
“He initially came up for a job shadow about coaching while he was in high school. I asked him where he was going to school next year, and he indicated he was going to PCC. I told him that it was a great idea, and to get involved. But I also told him that if he came to HCC, he could be with the baseball team and work as a student coach. He was crazy enough to call me a week later and tell me that he wanted to come to Hutch,” Schmidt said. “From the moment he stepped on campus he was a sponge for information. Everything the coaches instructed him on or taught to the players he put into his memory bank. He was an extremely hard worker and did everything that was asked of him.”
Hook said his experience at Hutchinson Community College was the best experience he could have asked for because he went into Hutch not knowing a whole lot about college baseball and its fine details. Through that opportunity he was able to expand his knowledge of the game.
“The biggest learning curve I had was shifting my view to the behind-the-scenes aspects of the game of baseball,” Hook said. “I also realized how much of an uphill battle and ladder I am climbing to be able to achieve my goals. After my time at Hutch and realizing how much I had learned I knew that the dream I was chasing was achievable and it was up to me to snatch it.”
So the question remains, how did Matt Hook end up as a student equipment manager for KSU? Schmidt said he sent a kid named Garrett Davis to Manhattan.
“The coaching staff called me when he graduated to thank me and to say, ‘If you ever have anyone else to recommend, please let us know.’ I told them that they were in luck. I have a guy named Matt Hook that might be even better than him. The rest is history,” Schmidt said.
Now at KSU and working under head equipment manager Colin Greaser Hook said that wearing the power cat on his chest and representing K-State baseball was an honor because of what he sees on a day-to-day basis and how everyone strives to be their best.
“I can fully say that after my first year with the baseball program and the opportunities it has brought my way, I want to do everything in my power to stay here as long as possible,” he said.
Hook’s typical duties start on Mondays when he reports for duty at 11:30 a.m. to clean helmets, catcher’s gear, scrapes stickers off bats, organizes the team’s equipment storage units for both practice and travel, and puts away uniforms in the equipment room. On game days the equipment staff oversee the setting up of the field for drills and batting practice. During home series Hook is in charge of writing the team’s lineup on the dugout’s whiteboard, preparing the game balls, clearing the field of equipment after batting practice, and getting the field ready for the visiting team to use for pregame warmups. During the game Hook is in charge of running game balls which means chasing down loose balls in foul territory as well as ensuring the umpire has enough game balls to keep the game running smoothly. At the conclusion of each game Hook, and his cohorts, are responsible for clearing the dugout of all equipment and gathering all uniforms to be scrubbed and cleaned. Hook said he is then tasked with passing out the next day’s uniforms along with helmets and catcher’s gear. Hook said the most challenging part of his job involves the travel days to and from the away series.
KSU, as a member of the NCAA’s BIG 12 Conference, has a conference schedule that takes them from as far east as West Virginia and Florida to as far west as Utah and Arizona.
“Many times, we get home from away games at 2 or 3 in the morning. Once we get back from traveling, we still have 30-45 minutes of work unloading equipment, putting equipment away, and starting the uniforms to soak. With this being my second year in the program, the knowledge gained from last year helps me know what to expect and the process of loading the bus, getting all the equipment bags travel ready, and understanding the process of getting through the airport,” he said.
Hook said his favorite part of working with the team is the relationships that he builds with the players and the staff, as well as expanding his knowledge of baseball while being a part of one of the best programs in the country.
“This has also allowed me to see many parts of the country I never thought I would see. I love working with the players, coaching staff, and getting to spend time on the field with the guys,” Hook said.
KSU’s baseball team made it all the way to the NCAA Division 1 Super Regionals (Sweet 16) this spring with Hook along for the ride.
“The NCAA Tournament was one of the best college baseball atmospheres I have ever experienced as we travelled to both Fayetteville, Arkansas and Charlottesville, Virginia,” he said. “When we clinched a spot in The Sweet 16, that final out, it was pure electricity. The feeling of being part of one of the few teams in the country, and only the second team in KSU history to do so is indescribable.”
After KSU Hook is looking for a graduate assistant position at a division 1 program with a “dream come true” scenario being to stay at KSU with eyes on a full-time position as a college coach following. He will continue his journey this summer with the Harwich Mariners baseball team in the Cape Cod League in Massachusetts, an opportunity made possible by his associations with KSU.
