It’s a Friday night. Rangerball is in thrilling action. The raving FHC student section is buzzing with anticipation as the ball is launched into the air to initiate tip-off.

Junior Sam Tuori sits with coach Kyle Carhart on the bench; he plays vital role in determining the varsity boys basketball’s success for the night. 

Sam is the “stat guy.”

He loves being on the basketball court—but not necessarily playing. 

“I did once-upon-a-time play basketball, but I was not good,” Sam said. “I soon realized due to my athletic skills, or lack thereof, that I would have to do something like stats if I wanted to still be a part of the game.”

Sam’s occupation consists of precisely tracking every move made by the players. Home or away, Sam sits on the bench at each game. He is always busy following each and every action.

“In short, I have a pretty complicated stats app on my iPad that I track the entire game on,” Sam said. “I insert basically any sort of stat [on] any of our players’ records.”

Sam looks up to graduated stat guys like Cooper James and Will Kuiper. 

“I kind of just fell into it; I did it my freshman year for the freshman team,” Sam said. “Kuiper was graduating that year so, obviously, there was no one to do it for varsity next season—my sophomore year—so I kind of just eased into it.”

Sam has been working with the same team of boys since ninth grade. As a result, strong friendships have been created between him and his fellow players. The boys treat Sam as a part of the team.

“[Senior] Jimmy [Scholler] is my neighbor, so I’ve always been friends with him,” Sam said. “But, obviously, I’ve been good friends with most of the guys. Although, I think the best part of the friendships I’ve made is how much we’ve grown as a team.”

Initially, Sam was close friends with some players like juniors Matthew Mahoney, Dallas Hopson, and Jonah Spates just from simply spending every day with them at school. Additionally, Sam bonded with some unfamiliar players like junior Jacob Ervin, and seniors Mitchell Wilkinson and Tommy Spaletto. The team aspect has triggered countless friendships between the players and Sam, and he is so thankful for those bonding opportunities. 

Sam plays a very essential role during the varsity games that occur twice a week. His specific app is a huge plus in regards to helping keep all of the statistics organized and correct. 

“Basically, whenever something happens in the game, I mark it down on the app,” Sam said. “For example, if someone takes a shot, whether they score or miss, I track where the shot is taken. I do basically everything you could think of: shots, assists, rebounds, turnovers, blocks, deflections, fouls, and steals.”

Sam’s overall job is extremely intricate; he is always alert during the intense varsity games. However, sometimes he has mishaps. One being a dilemma with Jimmy Scholler after the first game of last season.

“It was about 12:30 pm, and I [was] about to go to bed—lights off and everything—but then I hear my phone ring, and I’m so confused,” Sam said. “Jimmy is calling me, so I answer. Then, all I heard on the other end was ‘how could you have me down for only five assists, I watched the film and had like nine, man.’ It was just hilarious.”

Sam’s presence and work ethic is a huge benefit to both the coaches and the team—but especially the coaches. 

“I would like to think I’m super beneficial to the coaches. I give them the iPad at halftime so they can go over all of the statistics and see what things we need to work on in the second half,” Sam said. “I think the guys really appreciate it because everyone always wants to know their stats—most of them text me after each game asking for them.”

Sam truly enjoys this position for various reasons. He likes the players, and he deeply appreciates how they treat him as an equivalent.

“Obviously, I’m not a player or anything, but the boys don’t treat me any differently,” Sam said. “I just have such great times whenever I’m with the team.”

Overall, this job opportunity for Sam has immensely helped him grow as a person and a teammate.

“It’s not an actual job, but it really is to me,” Sam said. “All of the statistics are my responsibility, so I definitely have grown with my accountability, especially because I don’t want to do them poorly and let Coach Carhart and the guys down.”