Fighting Ever Fighting | A Conversation with Blair DeBord

GoPowercat’s Cole Carmody continues the second season of Fighting Ever Fighting with a talk with former K-State catcher Blair DeBord, who now works in athletic administration, serving as an associate athletics director at Missouri under Mizzou’s new AD, former K-State linebacker Laird Veatch.

welcome to the power capat podcast the original kstate Sports show now let’s go to Kansas City Home of gpc’s hidden Studio here’s your host Cole Cary hello everyone and welcome in here to another edition of fighting ever fighting I’m Cole Cary from gopowercat.com and today we are going to take another turn uh for the first time in the history of this podcast we’re not talking to football players we’re talking to baseball players and more specifically we’re talking to Blair Dort who is a member of the last time Kansas State actually made a Super Regional in 2013 obviously they just made it this year um after they won the fville regional beating Southeast Missouri State in the final and Arkansas in the semifinals and Blair was on the last team to make it to a Super Regional so we’ll take a nice trip down memory lane but along with playing at Kansas State Blair has also spent some time at a school not too far down i7 um as his current job at the University of Missouri in the missou athletic department first off Blair thanks so much for taking the time I know it’s been on short notice but when Kansas State decides to do fun things we have to talk to fun people yeah well thanks for having me Co I’m excited to talk to you today and um really uh really cool uh experience for uh the the baseball team just getting to win the fville regional and go to go to a Super Regional and um you know there was a text chain that was going back and forth with a lot of the guys that were on the 13 team um you know talking about how special that time was and and how proud of the the program we are now so I’m excited to talk about it today yeah well before we get into that you and I were talking a little bit before we started recording but um why don’t you let the folks know you know K State folks love to hear what K Staters are up to now um you recently accepted a new position about a year ago at maou um what is new in your life life and and basically what has led to you to the point to where you are now working at the uh at the former rival of your former rival now um is your current employer yeah so um ever since I got done playing I’ve been working in college athletics I was working at K State in the aern fund and fortunate to work for some really incredible people Chad wyberg um lar V who’s now my boss again uh John Curry Reed Sigman um a lot of those guys and and so it kind of set me off on on on this you know track to work in college athletics because it had such a profound impact on on my life and and a lot of the people I care about’s life and so worked at Kate um and then worked at Tennessee for for a period of time uh UNLV in Las Vegas Memphis uh and then now back in in the midwest at the University of Missouri and um my wife Ellen um and I are are ecstatic about um you know our time so far in Colombia we had a pretty good year last year in football ball and and softball and and um gymnastics and um so we’re excited about raising our family in Colombia we have two young daughters and we’re expecting a third um child and so you know really excited that we’re so close to home and um being able to see family and you know there’s a lot of Midwestern flare to our life right now so we really enjoy it well welcome back to the Midwest you and I were talking a little bit off air and Curry ston is your brother-in-law so for the folks who are not where we have now had two members or the the first two guests on season two are in the same family they they see how crazy is that this is the second time in in two weeks that Jake Waters wedding is getting brought up on the show so congratulations Jake you are now a popular man um I guess I want to start there Blair because that time period in your life and and in so many other people’s life um that that that time from 2011 to 20 2014 in general in Manhattan um had to have been crazy uh between what football was doing winning the Big 12 championship and and making and having all the success that they did basketball winning a big 12 championship and then you guys your Junior season making it three titles in one season with you guys claiming that big 12 Championship just you know maybe not necessarily just that year but for for those four years just how incredible were the Vibes for for you as maybe someone who was able to watch what football and basketball was doing and obviously carry it over into baseball yeah um I mean it was a special time in Manhattan Kansas I I obviously grew up there um and and so the Allure of playing for your hometown team is always you know trying to be be a part of turning something around right that’s what I grew up watching I grew up watching Bill Snyder turn the football program around and then I saw um you know Bob Huggins and Frank Martin and then Bruce Weber turned the basketball program around um and it just felt like something special was going on when I was getting recruited that coach Hill and and and those guys were were doing and so I wanted to be a part of it um and you know I I always I grew up in Manhattan during the summer going to the College World Series a lot um you know obviously always wanted to play professionally uh but really I felt like a career Milestone would be able to play uh in in the College World Series obviously didn’t reach that goal but I always wanted the play for a place that I felt like hey it was a realistic possibility that we could do that right and I could be part of something um and you know going into my senior year K State went to their first Regional ever in 2009 um and that was the first like kind of Glimpse that it could happen um at at Kate and so you know um they they did a great job of recruiting me and it was you know coach Hill and and actually Andy Sawyers um who the head coach of Simo um and Sean mccan who’s who’s an assistant at Tennessee um all those guys were really impactful in in in my choosing Kansas State and then um so it really felt like there was there was a vision there and so uh you know my time in Manhattan um you know there was just a lot of success happening whether it be basketball football um baseball we had some Regional appearances prior to that um a a funny story about that year you know football wins the Big 12 right uh and then basketball follows it up and I’m in a I’m in a business class I can’t remember what what it was but it was it was in Calvin Hall and it was with Ryan Mueller and basketball had just won the the big 12 championship and and Ryan you know like kind of joking was like okay now you guys have to win the Big 12 Championship I always remember that uh and then we were kind of sitting there and he was like wait do you think you could actually do that I was like I don’t know man the Big 12 baseball is so good and right you know a lot of things have to go right and um we just played really great baseball down the stretch um and it was fun to be kind of the cap of what was just an incredible athletic year for Kansas Cate at that time and you know um it’s a it’s a period of time in in my life that I always remember very fondly I mean me too I I will not I will not tell you how old I was because I I let’s just put it this way okay I wasn’t in high school yet I’m not trying to date you but I will tell you that I remember I remember watching you guys and that was really my first introduction to college baseball um those people who know me know like I’m a coach now I I very much involved and I’ve really followed college baseball ever since but I remember watching you guys play and I remember specifically watching the regional uh the regional the before the Super Regional obviously we’ll talk about that in cor valis but I remember seeing Manhattan host a regional and you know to kind of think about where that stadium was then to where now where the stadium is today um it’s it’s honestly kind of crazy do you happen to remember did they bring in bleachers I know that there was some discussion did they bring in outside for that for that Regional oh yeah so uh you know our baseball administrator is a guy named Casey Scott casy is still the baseball administrator there he runs event operations and facilities and and a lot of stuff there on like operations um and so they brought in some bleachers on what is now the BM uh and if he watches this he will laugh because these were like this setup of these bleachers was not safe I don’t know who signed off on that uh but apparently a structural engineer thought it was good and and it was fine um but you could tell that like that the administration really really invested um and was excited about you know presenting just as good of an experience to host a regional as we could at K State at the time um and you know to to fans credit I mean the the environment those those couple of days was just electric um and I think that’s the one thing about just College fans in general but like my time being being a Kate fan growing up and then playing for K State like Kate fans do a great job of of showing up and supporting and and and the handful of times that I was back this spring um for different family things or whatever uh that I was able to check out a game like the passion is still there was pretty cool so uh the the the Reon appearance in Manhattan was was awesome um and I I won’t mention him by name but uh one of the opposing pictures on another team during that Regional uh was was a friend of some of the guys on our team and we actually ran into him like the day before and they were really upset that they had not gotten to host that Regional um and they were telling us about how excited they were that they got this Regional because they felt like it was a good draw for them now mind you like all of us play on K State at the time uh and so you know that provided a little bit of extra oom for us uh as well so it’s um but yeah it was it was great and and we had so many really gritty competitors on our team um that that really came out in that weekend you know whether it’s Ross kibet or or Jared king or Tanner Wht or Shane conin or Austin fiser um you know any of those guys they were just we were all really excited about the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd a pretty impressive list of guys you just brought up I mean I know Ross KET obviously is is still in baseball he’s coaching um down there at Houston Shane cin spent some time at K State for a little bit I mean just obviously yourself like so many people are still involved in Collegiate Athletics and involved in baseball um I think that really goes to to show what coach Hill said um the standard that that coach Hill said and um I was kind of looking up some stats before this and and I’m want to make sure I get these right okay uh did you know that you finished second in career in kstate career history and hit by pitches I did know that yeah I did know that I guess yeah you I mean you’re a catcher I think most catchers crowd the play and they just like to get hit I’m curious though because being uh being a catcher in in a regional like that obviously it didn’t matter for you guys because um you went three and 0 and that was the region as I have to adjust my camera here and that was the regional and you guys swept your way through it just like K State just did but I mean was there ever any thought of like crap if we if we lose this game now I got to get back behind the plate on Turf it’s probably 100 degrees I mean nowadays right in double headers catchers they’re not they’re not catching both games I mean was that ever going to be an option or is that just something with Coach Hill where he’s like no I’m not even worrying about you’re catching both games yeah um I think I just you know I think all of us at that time myself included were we were just so excited about the opportunity um that it didn’t matter how hot it was it didn’t matter the conditions surrounding it didn’t matter if we were hurt I me we had guys that were hurt all over the field like Austin Fischer I think had an actual like hairline fracture in his back that he was playing through and so you know all of us were dealing with various ailments and I mean you know you got it it was hot right um but at at the same time like know you got you got like cold towels in the in the Dugout and everything so um we were we were all just I mean when that adrenaline gets going and and these guys get into these highly competitive you know situations I mean everybody’s tired everybody’s you know it’s the end of everybody’s season and and it really comes down to like who can grit through the adversity uh at that time and fight through it but like yeah no I was not didn’t want to come out at that time you know didn’t it didn’t really matter so um and we had great teams in that Regional I remember when the regional was announced like our four seed was witto State yeah we would play in midweeks and and they would be tight games um the three seed was Bryant who I think had won their league um they had like 40 wins they had won their league uh regular season and Conference tournament and then the two seed was Arkansas um who was the preseason number one team in the nation and and they were good uh and so you know we we felt like we had our work cut out for us and we were excited about the opportunity and you know um and I think there was probably you know some anxiety and some nervousness about you don’t want to be the team that gets the host and doesn’t get through to the Super Regional right especially in our situation um we did not want to be the team that that gets the host and and you know fall short and not not get to the Super Regional round so yeah I mean well you brought up Arkansas we might as well go there I’m I’m sure you were you were watching intently um not just being in Alum but I mean being a fellow sec um you’ve been able to see what Arkansas has done with that baseball program the way that they’re able to recruit at a high level the way that they’re able to consistently be in that position to host regionals and supers um I guess I’ll just ask you here I mean you’ve seen them throughout the whole entire season uh that was a little unexpected not Maybe not maybe that Kate was able to beat them but the fact that they didn’t even make a regional final yeah I mean you know the these these seasons are long and these these team team are really good and stacked with Talent when you get towards the end of the year everybody is good um and sometimes like you’re playing your best baseball of the year at the end of the year and sometimes you aren’t um and I have a lot of respect for the the baseball program at Arkansas and Dave Van Horn and and and you know those assist there I’ve known of them or known them for a long time um I mean those they have really good players and and you know like baseball is a game that is uh is an opportunistic game and like what what wasn’t like kind of the the big uppercut in that game um wasn’t there like a three-run home run uh where where Cole Pepper hit like an Oppo Jack you know off of Hagen Smith who was like almost Untouchable all season long in the SEC I mean I watched him pitched against Theo tigers and and that guy was like ready to play in the big leagues that night and he still is right um but you also have a really good player in in Co pepper and Kaylin that is out to play they both played on Team USA together and it was just very like like baseball is just a very in my opinion it is one of the most romantic Sports uh and it always seems like those situations where a kin Co pepper who played for Team USA is is is hitting against Hagen Smith who also pitched for Team USA and like it’s a it’s a monoy mono and it’s and it’s a great story and and that was just a another chapter in in kind of K State baseball history that was pretty cool so let’s let’s take it back to 2013 with you guys um you win your Regional and then you have to get set for a Super Regional and I mean let’s just call it how it is in baseball you’re supposed to play the game every day you play the game every single day now maybe if you’re not playing a midweek you might have a few days off but that’s typically towards the end of the season well you guys then get set for a Super Regional and have to wait for you know practically a whole week get on a plane have to adjust your body to go up to Coralis and oh by the way they’ve got this Slugger who still plays in Major League Baseball by the name of Michael conforto um what was the mindset for you guys because K State’s dealing with the exact same thing right now having to go out to Virginia maybe not an as um as talented Virginia team as as Oregon state was at the time but still I mean a top 10 team in the nation you guys were faced with the exact same scenario what was your guys’s mindset going into that weekend yeah I mean you know first you’re so excited you you play your whole career wanting to be in in this situation like you always want to have a chance to go playing omahan so um you know the practices and and The Vibes I guess as you would say around the the practices and around the building and everything was was you know was just incredible I mean everybody was so ready for the opportunity to go to go try go to the College World Series um because it’s everything you ever dreamed about right you always want to be in a situation where like the at bats or the or the pitches or things matter on like a a bigger scale than than you’re used to right or or it’s meaning something more than just yourself um and so that’s kind of I I I think I speak for the whole team um that we were all just so excited about the opportunity and it really wasn’t about or State uh or the players that they had on their team everybody is good at that time you’re you’re the only 16 teams left right and so every team has Pros every team has cons right um and we just felt really good that that uh we had I mean I think our our our hitting statistics we were the number two rated offense in the country um you know I think our team I think our team batting average was like 310 or something I mean or three yeah 310 um and so we were just we just knew who we were as a team and we knew we were going to have to grind and we knew we were going to have to um uh get through some adversity and we were excited about the opportunity to do it in Corvalis now a lot of us had never played baseball in corales right we had no idea what we getting ourselves into um and and I’m I’m willing to guess most of the guys on the Kate team that are going to Virginia have never played in Charlottesville right but but th those are incredible environments with a lot of players and and don’t don’t forget too that they’re players on the K State team that play in leagues whether it’s Team USA or the Northwoods or or um you know the Cape Cod League or the California League or whatever any of these leagues are now uh and they play with guys from Virginia right because you can only have a certain number of players on on each team during the summer that are from the same school so they’ve probably played against or played with or or on the same team with some of the Virginia guys and they know what they’re getting into and and you know the reality is when you get to that point everybody’s good and everybody’s looking forward to the challenge of competing against each other we’ll be right back after these messages from our sponsors welcome back to the show let’s head back to the studio I I think you bring up a great point about the competition because a lot of the times we we don’t talk enough about that and it’s really the only sport where uh these guys are seeing the same players only in a completely different environment I mean you’re not going to see the Rodney mcgutter of the world go and play against um you know those guys from Baylor you’re not gonna see uh if you want to take it for today you’re not gonna see the Avery Johnson’s go play against the Brady Cooks in a completely different League that’s just not gonna happen but that happens with college baseball and a lot of these guys know each other they’re friends with each other and they’ve been playing with each other since high school I think that’s another thing that maybe folks don’t realize and and I’m sure you can attest to this but like the guys that you played with and the guys that you play against at the college level you’ve known about for a really long time um and so it it’s going to be interesting because now with the technology I mean The Scouting that these guys have is is next level they have video on every single pitcher and so um scouting for baseball is completely different than Scouting For any other sport I’m I’m excited to watch because I I love just college baseball in general but super regionals I think are probably some of the most exciting events in all of college sports um I know obviously it didn’t end well for you guys that season um but that weekend had to have been a blast oh yeah I mean I remember um I remember we got through the first uh the first night and so we we win the first night right we kind of come back like we had done all year and and like Austin fiser and I had this moment you know walk to our hotel room you know that was just like oh my gosh we’re like we are literally nine innings away from playing in Omaha like because PE because people like people will say we want to win a National Championship say we GNA go to Omaha say you want to play in the final four and I think everybody believes that and you’re fighting really hard but then when you’re like right there there’s this realization that like oh my gosh we are like we are right here um and I remember in in game three uh I think Austin and Ross turned a double play or I can’t quite remember exactly what happened um but the level of play in that game three so we win the first one right and then we we lose the second one but the level of play in game three was just like electric it was the it was the it was the most incredible baseball that I had ever been a part of um people were making great plays all over the place place the crowd was was all over it um and it was just a really special environment and you know we talk about in college athletics a lot on the administrative side providing world class or or you know experiences for your student athletes and so that happens in many ways that’s you know the academic support that they get that’s the the student athlete development support the leadership development support the nutrition the strength and conditioning the coaching that they get the nil that they get now right all these things go into this worldclass experience but the number one indicator of whether or not a student athlete is having a good experience or a bad experience is about wins and losses in the field like your experience as a student athlete holistically is better when you’re winning versus when you’re losing right um because at the end of the day this is still competition that’s why we play we have winners and losers um and when you’re winning it’s better uh and so all of that being said when you are at kind of the Pinnacle of what your sport is in college and people are flying around and making incredible plays or you know everybody like the zone is is the Umpire behind the plate is calling a good Zone and you’re seeing good balls and Strikes and everybody is competing at a really high level it’s just really special um and that’s what we experienced um in Corvalis un fortunately we were not able to to close it out and and and get the cats to Omaha um but you know I I I think there’s a this is a good group of guys and they compete really hard and and honestly I texted Casey Scott or I told Casey St Scott when I was watching I think when Kate played Texas on like a Thursday or a Friday I was in town I can’t quite remember so they won one and they lost the next two but when they won the first one I told Casey that I felt like the offense at least had a lot of the same um like characteristics that our that our 13 team had it felt like they really competed through the lineup there was a lot of really tough outs um and guys were putting good swings on things and they were they were just really competitive um and you know they they went through a stretch as all teams do where they struggle a little bit we people forget that we were like a 500 team in the first quarter of the season um and then we walked off Texas Tech at home and then kind of everything started to roll right um now they kind of they were hurt at the beginning this year and then they kind of picks up some speed and then they kind of fell back and then they picked up some speed and they kind of fell back and now they they feel like you know watching it looks like they’re playing some of their best baseball of the year which is what you want to be doing ultimately as a coach in a program it regardless of sport you want to be playing your best in that sport at the end of the year um and and it looks like that’s what the team is doing right now when you look at that team and compare it to the team that you were on I know you just talked about that but I mean do you think that this might be the most talented group that Kate has had since that 2013 team well I I haven’t probably watched as much kstate baseball um you know since since I got done just because of my job and kind of moving around and being um being really attentive to the place that you’re at um I would say that they have some some pretty incredible Tal on this team um you know they have two guys that played for Team USA um and they have they have guys that have um either they have some guys that are transferring in they’ve got some freshmen um and so I mean they are you know they’re they’re a really solid club that is gon to go play another really solid Club in Virginia um and it’ll be really really interesting to see how it kind of shakes out um because I I think you know like you you look all over the the the The Regionals and super regionals and there’s just there’s there’s some teams that you might not have thought were going to be there there’s some teams that are there there’s some teams that are that um are in supers that you kind of maybe thought all year were going to be there but then you kind of weren’t quite sure um and that’s what makes college baseball great is that the the seasons go in waves and um very rarely is the best team in the country at the beginning of the year the best team in the country at the end of the year well Blair I’m going to leave you with this because I I I think I speak for all of Kate fans um and people who watch that team when I say uh congratulations first of all on an outstanding baseball season that literally K State fans are still talking about to this day I mean 11 years ago uh on that on Sunday when Kansas State beat Arkansas you guys clinched uh your ticket to the Super Regionals and and I’m sure that um you you still talk about those memories obviously that’s what we did today um so I appreciate you taking the time to take a trip down memory lane reflect on your time at K State and help us preview what is surely going to be an exciting weekend to baseball because uh it is uh it is the best time of the year if you’re a college baseball fan and and ultimately it’s the end of the year for uh for guys like you in college athletics it’s the end of the sports year I know that the grind never stops but there will be no games after what the end of June until August August yeah yeah I mean you know I think well first like thank you for having me and thanks for reaching out and setting this up I I you know what what you guys do at go powercat is really fun and and you know I I I’m very appreciative of groups like yours kind of driving fandom and College athletics I think it’s one thing that makes it really special we have a great group at power bazou that does the same thing for us and um you know that th those groups are really important to College athletics um but I think you know ultimately like College athletics is about um kids that work their whole lives um whether it be to get a you know high level degree and compete at the highest level or go on to you know be a pro in something other than Sports as the NCAA tagline says right um and it’s just really cool to see see kids you know live out their dreams I mean I I remember you know playing playing wle ball in the front yard with my brother Brooks and we would always put our eles in the situation like okay you got a guy in second and third and two outs this is to send your team to Omaha right with like the kids on the field that are playing this weekend they will be living out um some of those those situations that they’ve been thinking about playing in uh their whole lives and so um you know I I can I can speak to uh I can speak from experience that the guys on the field no matter how no matter what happens this weekend or how the games go there’s nobody in the whole world that wants to win two games this weekend more than all of the guys that are playing um and so uh I’m excited to watch it and I just I I like competition I like sports competition no matter the sport I like watching our student athletes um grind through adversity and I’m excited to tune in this week and watch all the games bur you can bust out your purple I won’t tell anybody okay you can wear it you don’t have to let anybody know just wear some purple for us it’ll it’ll all be good yeah I I will say uh you know this this transition to missou uh most of the time when I when I meet people they’re like oh you went to K State and I was like yeah but we we we hate the same ugly bird there you and so you know it gives me some points initially with with the missou folks so um yeah uh well actually I will be in in Florida with curry and the rest of our family we’re going on a little trip and so with little kids uh so we’ll we’ll tune in and and I know he’ll be hearing loud for him so there you go that’s thank you so much blur enjoy your vacation and thanks for taking the time and uh we’ll talk to you next time all right see you Cole this has been a gopowercat.com and spirit Street production please support this show by subscribing to this YouTube channel or follow us on your favorite podcast platform