Athlete picks passion over paycheck
BY DOUG FRY
—
This spring, Brett Bafaro is trading in
54,000 spectators and the lights of Autzen
stadium for a sm all college baseball
program and reuniting with his brother.
A fter three seasons and an N CA A
N ational Ch am p ion sh ip appearance
with the University of Oregon football
team, Bafaro finds him self relaxed and
comfortable back on the diamond.
While finishing his senior year at Liberty
High School in 2012, Bafaro was a four-
star recruit and the lone linebacker in Chip
Kelly’ s final recruiting class at the UO.
Five years since his last high school
baseball game, Bafaro is returning to the
sport he gave up when he made his choice
to attend UO.
“ They invest a lo t into
you a n d then you g e t
there a n d g o ...‘l don’t
kn o w i f I should have
played baseball.’ ”
-B r e ttB a fa r o
Bafaro left the football program while
still attending classes at Oregon and
eventually left UO all together.
“ I got into a repetitive lifestyle at the,
U o f O after I got done playing football
there, I was still on scholarship and still
going to school. I just about got my degree
while I was there but it was normalcy that
I couldn’t deal with,” said Bafaro. “ I don’t
want to grow up and get a job yet. I want
to keep the dream going as long as I can. ”
While playing football for the Ducks,
Bafaro realized that it was not as expected
and things had not been clicking well
enough to continue his football career.
“ I think what happened is that when
I got there I realized ‘I can do this if I
really wanted to, but som ething didn’t
feel right.’ There was something inside
of that wasn’t right,” said Bafaro.
O regon gave Bafaro a $100,000
scholarship along with room and board
to play football at the college. Bafaro knew
that something was not right after a few
seasons and began to question if he should
have chosen baseball instead.
“ I didn’ t feel like I was m eant to be
8 Clackamas Print MARCH 15,2017 theclackamasprint.com
there, and that’ s a really terrible feeling
“ One thing I’ve carried with me from and his younger brother Brayden.
especially when a school put all their the Chip Kelly era at the U of O is, you can’t
“ It’ s pretty crazy to think someone
eggs in one basket, when they gave you be nervous. You can’t be this and that,
could come back from a few years o ff
a hundred and some odd thousand dollar because you’ve prepared so damn hard.
[from baseball] and be this good, but if
scholarship plus room and board,” said There is no way you won’t be ready,” said
anyone could do it, it’s Brett,” said Gillett.
Bafaro. “ They invest a lot into you and Brett. “ You’ve got to be a dog licking your
“ His swing looks as good as ever. He hit
then you get there and go, ‘Eh I don’t chops and getting out the gate because
over .35Qin a summer collegiate league,
know if I like this. I don’t know if I should you’ve been working so hard. It doesn’t
which is hard enough, let alone after not
have played baseball.’ That’? just a weird matter what level of player you are, you
having played for four years. In his first
feeling.
have to take the same m entality.”
real college game a couple weeks ago, he
That is where Clackamas Community
Brett’s transition back to baseball has went 3 for 4 with a HR that hasn’t landed
College came into play.
been relatively seamless in the eyes of yet.”
B rett’ s younger brother, Brayden assistant coach Jackson Gillett who was
B rett’ s m entality on the diam ond
Bafaro, who graduated from Liberty in the head coach at Liberty high school and
has changed, but not in an aggressive
2016, had a sim ilar decision to make: had the opportunity to coach both Brett
fashion as one would think after being in
football or baseball. Brayden had the
opportunity to play football at Portland
State University, but in the end decided
to join the baseball team at Clackamas
Community College.
“ I came on a couple visits, talked to
[Jim] Hoppel, loved him as a coach arid
then I decided baseball was my choice?
I just thought it was the right decision,
the right fit and place for me to be at with
all the guys that I know,” said Brayden.
“ Coach Hop [Hoppel] was basically my
m ain choice, love him as a person, he
made baseball fun for m e.”
Both Brett and Brayden weighed on each
other’s choice to come to CCC.
“ He definitely had a little bit of weigh
on it, big brother, always talking in my
ear,” said Brayden, “ He put a different
mindset in my head, it helped me make
my decision. It’s good to get back together
with him , bond and work hard together.
It’ s fun being back with h im .”
Brett commented as welL
“ I let him know a little bit about my
experiences and I th in k he took that,
looked at him self and said, ‘Hey we can
both do this thing in baseball. Football,
our ceiling might be here, but inbaseball,
our ceiling might be up here,” said Brett.
“ As soon as [Brayden] decided to come
here instead of go play football at Portland
State, I knew right away. ”
“ No matter what DI sport you play it’s
always a mindset that you carry with you
and you have got to make sure you prepare
the hardest, work the hardest so that when
you’re in that game time situation you’re
not nervous. You’re ready to go,” said Brett.
Ch ip Kelly is not only known for
explosive offenses a t the U O , but also
his speeches and sayings, one in particular
has stuck with Brett.
Brett Bafaro takes a break from baseball practice on March 14.