Athlete of the Issue: Anthony Hemp

Athlete of the Issue: Anthony Hemp

By Araceli Galarza Posted March 19, 2021

Lowry has been home to great athletes, for the class of 2021, this is only the beginning. Anthony Hemp was named as just one of the athletes that will be honored for this issue. He has had his hand full playing and experimenting with different sports since his freshman year. He chose to stick with just two, however.

“I play basketball and baseball.” Said Hemp. “My freshman year I played football and I made JV and then decided not to play after that.”

Hemp has quite a few years under his belt playing sports. Since he was 5 years old he has experienced fast pace sports such as travel teams and many others that the community offers.

“I started playing at about 5-years-old and I was on Jeff Dawson’s travel team and we were the Bobcats.” Said Hemp. “Youth baseball was the first sport because I didn’t play but I was just like the ball boy and the waterboy.”

Anthony Hemp. /Ron Espinola • The Brand
Anthony Hemp. /Ron Espinola • The Brand

Hemp now only plays basketball and baseball. This was occurring during his younger years as well. He played baseball as a child more often than the rest.

“Most definitely baseball,” said Hemp. “We traveled quite a bit with the Badgers and we play a lot of baseball in the summers and then would go to Reno every weekend to play in those Bald Eagle tournaments up there.”
His mother Monica Hemp is very proud of her son. She enjoyed watching him since he was young.

“I’m so proud of Anthony,” said Hemp. “Since he was young you could tell he had a true passion for baseball and I’m so happy to see him continuing during high school even though all the COVID drama. I love that kid. I know he’s going to keep excelling.”

Hemp has played his fair share of sports but baseball is his favorite sport. His love for baseball stems from a family love as well.

“Definitely baseball still,” said Hemp “It’s always been my favorite. I just did it when I was a young kid and I’ve always had a drive to play baseball. I’ve always wanted to play with the older kids and be with all the kids and the other teams and so it just drove me to play baseball. My dad played baseball, my grandfather played baseball; so I wanted to prove myself to them that I could be better than them just to prove myself to everyone that I could make varsity as a freshman and truly show myself.”

His family has a lot of influence on his love of baseball. His father’s inspiring championship win has always been something that he remembers and looks up to.

“My dad, Steve, played for Battle Mountain and they won a state championship and they got second place his junior year,” said Hemp. “I always wanted to win one for baseball for my own self. My grandpa’s name is Pau and he played too and he was a center fielder and my dad was a center fielder and that’s where I started out but then I ended up going to catcher my sophomore year. My mom played softball and my sister doesn’t play right now but she will when she gets older.”

Hemps greatest influence is his dad.

“My dad played all three sports in high school and they won the state championship in football and baseball and so I just always wanted to win one just like he did,” said Hemp.

It’s easy to let high school breeze by without really remembering what’s going on. When you play sports there are certain moments that just have to stand out. For Hemp, this was his junior year striving to beat Lowry rival, Elko.

“Even though I didn’t get to play, it was the excitement of working all season [in basketball] to beat them [Elko] at home and we all got to watch them walk off the court in disappointment and knowing that we had gotten better throughout the year and it was our main goal to beat Elko at home,” said Hemp.

Even though Hemp had his hands full with two sports back to back, as well as all the demanding schoolwork he still wishes that he could have tackled football through high school.

“Oh yeah, one of my main regrets was not finishing football,” said Hemp. “I truly wish I would have finished football. It was just after football season it was always branding season and so I decided to just stay and keep working on the ranch and do that kind of stuff. But I do truly wish I would have finished out football and had my senior finishing up football.”

Hemp plans to attend college out of state once he’s done at Lowry.

“My plan after graduation is to go to CSI [College of Southern Idaho] and I’m going there for Agriculture Tech and Science and right now I’m trying to get on as a scholarship for baseball and try to play baseball at CSI,” said Hemp.
He offers some much-needed advice for those looking to improve their athletic skills.

“The best advice I can give him is once you start a sport just never give up on it, even if you’re not the best,” said Hemp.”If you are the best you just got to keep working. Once I got into it, I was doing three sports and I would only do a sport for five weeks and then quit and then the next sport for five weeks. I wish I would have just kind of focused on one and really stayed with it. Not like you do not do all three sports; I still would play but focus on the one you love the most and just concentrate. I wish I would have thrown year-round, I wish I had to hit in the cage year-round.”

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