Haldeman, Northrup headline team

EPWORTH – Golf was his game. Considering his family, it almost had to be, at first.

Spencer Haldeman's grandpa, Terry Harris, owns and operates Harris Golf Cars in Dubuque. The business – which also has stores in Sugar Grove, Ill., and Sturtevant, Wis. - has been in existence since 1979 and serves four states.

That's big time. So it was only natural that birdies, bogeys, drives and chip shots were what a young Haldeman thought most about.

'I used to be a big golfer,” the Western Dubuque senior said. 'That used to be my main sport. But once I started playing AAU, basketball took over for me.”

That was sixth grade, and there has never been any regret. Nor should there have been.

The 6-foot-2 guard emerged as one of the state's best, a cerebral player with a deadly long-range shot. Haldeman started three years for the Bobcats, becoming the school's all-time leading scorer.

He set a school record with 44 points in a district final game last season against eventual state champion Dubuque Wahlert, including a 27-point fourth quarter, then put up that number again this regular season in a blowout win against DeWitt Central. In another game this season, he outscored Davenport West, 39-37.

Haldeman has signed to play at the University of Northern Iowa, which seems a perfect fit for his game.

Last week, he was named the state's player of the year by Gatorade. Today, he is honored as The Gazette/KCRG-TV Boys' Basketball Player of the Year.

'I remember seeing him in fourth and fifth grade, playing in these little kids tournaments,” said Western Dubuque Coach Dennis Geraghty. 'I knew he was going to be a really good player. A lot of good things happened whenever he had the ball.”

Haldeman's court abilities aren't by mistake, as he comes from an athletic family.

Terry Harris was a football player at Drake, coached various sports and was a football and basketball official for 30 years. Uncle Scott Harris also has been a coach and official and still plays semipro baseball at age 54.

Mom Amy played golf at Northern Iowa.

'He has the bloodlines,” Geraghty said.

And definitely the work ethic, too. Geraghty said many was the morning Haldeman would be at the Western Dubuque gym at 6:30, hoisting shot after shot after shot before school. Custodians knew who he was and would let him in.

He has a passion for the game.

'It's more than the nine school records he broke here,” Geraghty said. 'Look at our records the three years he played. When he was a sophomore, we were 22-1. His junior year, we were 17-6 and also won the conference. This season, our division of the Wamac was the toughest it has ever been, and we won it by three games and finished 19-6.

'That is what sticks out to me about Spencer. He's just a humble winner.”

The colleges started coming late last season to Haldeman, but when UNI offered him and friend Luke McDonnell, a 6-foot-10 senior center at Dubuque Senior, the recruiting process was over.

'At the next level, I see myself as more of a floor leader,” he said. 'I'll have scorers all around me at the next level. I mean, I'm still going to shoot. But these last four years, I've worked on my leadership, and I think I can help the team out a lot that way.”

Haldeman and O'Donnell are working out together a lot to get stronger and be fully prepared for next season in Cedar Falls.

'Red-shirting or not, it doesn't really matter to me,” Haldeman said. 'It's kind of a win-win situation. You are either sitting out a year and getting better, or you're helping the team out.”

Our Coach of the Year didn't win a state championship but just getting his team to the tournament was a major accomplishment. It had never been done before.

Justin Northrop led Belle Plaine to state for the first time in school history. The Plainsmen went 24-2 and won the South Iowa Cedar League championship for the first time in 39 years.

Belle Plaine lost to Earlham in the quarterfinals of the 1A state tourney but that didn't diminish one great season.

The rest of the all-area team is Dubuque centric. Haldeman and McDonnell are joined by Dubuque Hempstead's Robert Duax and Wahlert's Cordell Pemsl.

Iowa City has two members in West's David DiLeo and Regina's Drew Cook. Linn-Mar's Jordan Bohannon joins Pemsl as the lone underclassmen (juniors). Cedar Rapids Xavier's Adam McDermott, West Central's Ethan Steinbronn and Waverly-Shell Rock's Jake Velky are the other members.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com