Playin’ to his own dream
Nate Bailey, captain of SHS state runner-ups, begins life at United States Naval Academy
By Joshua R. Wilkins
Sports Writer
In Nate Bailey’s last wrestling match for SHS, he led off the state finals with a big pin.
Many who know him couldn’t think of a better way for the captain of the team to go out, especially a trend-setter who is used to reaching heights others may see as unattainable.
On Monday, the self-proclaimed “dreamer” headed North to Annapolis, Md., and the United States Naval Academy, where he hopes lessons he learned in his past adventures help him in his new one. Bailey is the first SHS student to be appointed to any of the service academies in several years.
“I’d definitely say wrestling had the biggest influence,” said Bailey, who fell in love with the sport as a freshman at SHS. “Grades have never been a problem. It’s just what’s expected out of the family. Just do your best. With wrestling it gave me the dedication to something, and the work ethic.”
“He was a hard-working kid that really pressed to develop himself physically to become successful,” said former SHS wrestling coach Mark Reeves, who coached Bailey all four years in high school. “I think the thing about Nate that ensured his success and is also the cornerstone behind him receiving an appointment to the Naval Academy is the fact that he is mentally tough. He figures out what he wants to do, and then he goes after it.”
Reeves recalled several times when Bailey exemplified that toughness. Sometimes it was the prototypical hero stuff like wrestling in the district tournament with the flu and a high fever his junior year, and still going all out, or battling through injuries to help the team in his freshman and senior year, the later of which he helped lead the team to a runner-up appearance in the state duals.
Other times it was the more subtle things that impressed the coach.
“He had a lot of bad luck in terms of injuries,” said Reeves. “He never complained about it “¦ I didn’t have to tell him that he needed to continue to train in order to keep himself in shape. I didn’t have to ever worry about where he was going to be or if he was going to make weight or anything like that. He was determined to succeed no matter what kind of obstacles were against him.”
Springfield High guidance counselor James Snider, who has written several letters of recommendation on Bailey’s behalf, recalls the first time he encountered the now Midshipman.
“The first time Nate mentioned he was interested in going to the Academy, I was impressed. It made my day to see a young man with a very high goal and the ability and desire to reach it. A comment I made in several letters of recommendations was that he may sound too good to be true, but he is true, true to his convictions, his potential, his friends, his family, his country, and his God.”
Bailey says that ambition has always been with him, and it’s a big part of his motivation to look into service academies.
“I heard about the academies, pretty much from Judge (Burton) Glover,” said Bailey. “I was looking at West Point, looking at the Air Force Academy. It’s (Naval Academy) all about academics and physical strength. You come out with the spiritual, physical, and mental. It seems like that’s the place, if you want to achieve all those things.”
Coming from a small town where sky high goals aren’t always the norm, Bailey described his will to achieve certain things.
“It’s your life,” said Bailey. “You’re writing the book. If you want something go out there and do it. All it is, is you’ve got to be a dreamer. You’ve got to be passionate about life … There’s no reason why any kid anywhere can’t achieve something that other kids don’t think is possible.”
“It’s kind of like, people live their glory days in high school “¦ I didn’t want it to stop. I didn’t want to say, ‘Well, back in high school.’ I figured I might as well live my life, try to search for that glory, honor, and everything else.”
Bailey himself is staying wide-eyed to the possibilities he may embark on in his time in Annapolis. Starting this week, he begins a near seven-week physical training stint. After that he’ll begin the academic year, as well as, try and pick a new sport or two to train in.
“The key is finding the ones you want to do,” said Bailey, who mentioned boxing, rugby, and crew as potential arenas to try out his curiosity. “Wrestling was great, but boxing seems like it would be a blast.”
It was that curiosity that led him to seek out all three service academies while choosing his next step in life, and that curiosity that led to a crazy summer a year ago for the teenager, whose great-grandfather fought special missions against Germany in World War 1, and whose grandfather, uncle, and older brother have all had military stints in the past or are currently enlisted.
Bailey, who was one of SHS’s boys’ state representatives last year, used his parents’ escape plan to leave early so he could make it to his summer seminar, a short stint at the academy for potential attendees to get a feel for the place, at the Naval Academy.
Since Bailey was accepted to summer seminars at all three service academies, he then, went straight from Navy to West Point, and then after returning home for a day made the trip to Colorado Springs and the Air Force Academy, all of which he was strongly considering.
It was at the first seminar at Navy, in which his future home first started to pull ahead in terms of his comfort with and admiration for the school
“The place up there is beautiful, but it really came down to the people,” said Bailey. “The people had a certain amount of respect for each other and for you up at the summer seminar. They had such an amount of class and integrity, and have so much respect about them. It wasn’t just a reputation up there, it’s what it was.”
Bailey was looking for the same type of bond he had with most of his wrestling teammates at Springfield High School.
“We’re like brothers,” said Bailey. “Bruise Brothers goes beyond the name. It’s how you actually felt. These kids came from every different background in school, where if you didn’t wrestle with them, you might have never talked to them. High school can be all about social class and it’s pretty ridiculous, but there are no social classes in wrestling. You’re just down there.”
Reeves even recalled how Bailey seemed much more worried about the team’s progression in his senior season than his own chances of making state.
“For us, wrestling wasn’t all that individual most of the time,” said Bailey. “That was the whole team part of it. I expect the same kind of bond I had down in that room. I expect that people are there at the Naval Academy for the same reasons kids stay after school to wrestle. It’s kids putting in extra time to get more out of life than what’s average or anything like that “¦ You can really connect with those kinds of people.”
As the application process intensified, Bailey focused on being himself and figuring out more and more what his destination would be.
“It was definitely a ride because there was a lot of tension in the household with due dates, and everybody turning stuff in, and the pressure of them getting on my back to turn something in,” said Bailey. “You’re just honest with everybody, and you just tell them why, and if that’s what they want to hear, then that’s what they want to hear. You don’t put on a mask. That’s how you know when it really works out, is if they accept you for you.”
Bailey went to each academy for interviews, where he embarked on quite a few firsts, such as flying by himself, and answering questions from some of the country’s top leaders, including senator-led panels.
“To be honest with you, I had a blast with it,” said Bailey. “I got to act like a big shot for a couple of days, wear a suit, and try to knock everything out.”
Flying wasn’t so bad either, at least the majority of it.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Bailey. “Give me a CD player and some good music, and I can chill there (airport) for a while. Everything went really smooth until I was coming back from the Air Force Academy. Our flight was really delayed, and I had to make a connecting flight in Dallas “¦ (After landing) I was in A and had to get to C, and this is the Dallas Airport. I took off just hauling it, and I thought I had the right gate, but at the gate it turned out to be Paris. Then I looked at the terminal and found out my connecting flight had been delayed.”
Upon returning, he had to wait for his letter of appointment. He felt assured since he was a principal nominee, meaning he’d been triple qualified (medically, physically, academically) and had aced his interview with Bart Gordon.
After waiting for seemingly forever, and through times when he admittedly was in “the bottom of the bucket,” the first letter of appointment finally came from the Naval Academy. One from the Air Force would follow in the coming weeks.
“It was a big relief seeing it (the appointment) on paper,” said Bailey. “Things started falling into place.”
He went with the school that he’d first been introduced to at Academy Day on the campus of Franklin Road Academy in Nashville.
The appointment means Bailey will have a first-class education, and have access to first-class opportunities. He wants to look into engineering and physics, and possibly try flying planes or go after becoming a Navy Seal after graduation.
However, the appointment also means that after his education is through and he stays in the military that if he’s called upon, being sent overseas for missions that may include combat aren’t out of the question. Despite being, young, these are things Bailey has taken into account.
“People who join the military and think they can just ride out a commitment and get the bonuses or whatever while opting not to do anything are fooling themselves,” said Bailey. “I wouldn’t be mad if I had to be sent away. It would be tough. It’s one of those things that you’ve got to decide you’re doing when the time comes. If the country asks me to go over there, then I’ll go. It’s not a question. It’s a service.”
“I know he’s going to endure a lot of things that are going to test everything he’s ever been taught,” said Reeves. “He’s going to have to draw on a lot of perseverance now. I just wish him the best of luck.”
Before that comes, he’ll have to maintain a tough physical regimen and continue to succeed academically for the next four years to get him ready for upcoming challenges.
“You know what you’re getting into when you look into it,” said Bailey. Then with a smile he replied, “It’s not a shock when people get out there and work there tail off. I know it’s going to be tough, and I might feel like I can’t do it. I’m not going to break down, but if I do break down, I’m going to cry into my pillow because my parents will keep laughing and joking about my ‘What have I done’ phone calls.”
The constraints on his time will be more demanding than any typical college student and certainly more demanding than his time at SHS.
“I like to be well-rounded, not just in academics, but deeper parts in life,” said Bailey. “Everyone wants to fall in love. When am I going to have time to date? There’s not a whole lot of time to do anything but to study, and to do sports.”
All of these challenges and others will be those that will now face Bailey on a regular basis whether its getting up to run extra miles, or putting more and more time into studying.
“You’ve got to remember why you got into it in the first place,” said Bailey. “The underlying principal of it all as that you want to live with purpose. You want to find honor and integrity.”
The former wrestler acknowledges profoundly that he wouldn’t have made it this far into the dream alone.
“The people that really made this possible are my teachers and my outside influences. I don’t think we give them enough credit. Coach Reeves, if I would’ve never met him, I would’ve never known what it meant to have a runner-up for the state championship, or to know the excitement of achieving something or failing miserably in a match while still giving your best, and him still being proud of you. Doctor Snyder, he was fantastic. He was with me the whole time. He’s a real motivational guy. If he saw that anybody wanted anything, he’d help them out.”
The same sentiments and respect seem to be echoed back to the recent high school grad.
“Not only is he mentally strong and mentally tough, but he’s a good person morally,” said Reeves. “I’ve been around him, been with him on a mission trip. He’s a good, strong, Christian, fellow, that has a strong foundation morally that’s going to carry him far as well. He’s that kind of person that you’d want to be a leader in an organization that’s defending your freedom.”
“It is indeed a pleasure to work with Nate,” added Snider. “I do respect him highly, just as he shows great respect for others and for our country. I feel more comfortable knowing that the United States may be entrusted to young men like Nate.”
For now, Bailey will focus on the journey ahead, whatever comes of it.
“If you plan on knowing exactly what goes on, it may turn out to be exactly what didn’t go on,” said Bailey. “That’s going to be even tougher to get over than when you go in their just ready for anything and getting it shoved to you all at once and dealing with it.”
Bailey wants to have an impact on his country and his world enough to have given countless hours over the past four years just for the opportunity.
It may be here, back at home, that that impact can be felt in others seeking the same type of opportunities.
“They’re (people who doubt themselves) not thinking about the possibilities,” said Bailey. “I mean, who says they can’t do something like that. It’s all about what they want out of life, and if they want to settle for something different then fine, but I think there’s so much adventure out there. It’s a crazy journey. There’s no reason why he can’t. He’s just not accustomed to seeing it done.”
Wrestling Gear
