Geneva College head football coach Geno Demarco is stepping down after 2025 college football season

(File Photo of Reeves Field, Geneva College’s Football Stadium in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver Falls, PA) According to a post from the genevacollegeathletics Instragram page on Monday, after the 2025 college football season, Geneva College head football coach Geno DeMarco will step down. No NCAA Division III coach has had a longer tenure than DeMarco. DeMarco is also tied for coaches that are the longest tenured out from any NCAA level. DeMarco is getting ready for his 33rd season at Geneva College and has 167 wins as a coach, the most in Geneva football history. DeMarco started in 1993 and is in the sports hall of fames for both Beaver County and New Brighton. He is also in the hall of fame for the National Christian College Athletic Association and has gotten honors for Coach of the Year for both the NCCAA and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. DeMarco will go to a role of an assistant next season at Geneva College, but will still help out the football program there.

Hopewell High School graduate and left-handed pitcher Joe Rock makes his Major League Baseball debut in a recent win for the Tampa Bay Rays against the Baltimore Orioles

(FIle Photo: Source for Photo: In this April 4, 2020, photo, a youth baseball field sits empty at Monroeville Park in Monroeville, Pa. The Monroeville Baseball Association is among thousands of youth baseball leagues across the country that are in danger of having their seasons cancelled as part of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Will Graves)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Baltimore, MD) A Hopewell High School graduate made his Major League Baseball debut with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Left-handed pitcher Joe Rock contributed to the 11-3 win for the Rays that day against the Baltimore Orioles. Rock was called up previously in the day ahead of the afternoon matinee for the Rays against the Orioles. He got a ranking of the number 21 prospect in the system for the Rays. Rock appeared in the bottom of the eighth inning and lasted two innings. Rock had four strikeouts and allowed four hits. A two-run home run for the Orioles in the bottom of the ninth inning was the reason for the only two runs that Rock gave up. Rock got a 3-5 record this season at Triple-A Durham, getting 14 starts and getting 63 strikeouts through throwing 73 innings with a 4.81 ERA. Rock was a junior at Hopewell when he earned all-section honors there as a junior with an 8-3 record and a 1.30 ERA with 108 strikeouts. The left-handed pitcher was ranked the No. 9 pitcher in the state ahead of his high-school graduation. He then pitched for Ohio University concluding his collegiate career with the Bobcats with a 3.47 ERA, 158 strikeouts and held opponents with a batting average of just .239. He has pitched in the system for the Rays for the past two years after being with the Colorado Rockies for the first years of his professional career. The Rockies picked Rock in the 2021 MLB Draft as the 68th overall pick.

Dave Parker, hard-hitting Hall of Fame outfielder nicknamed “the Cobra,” dies at 74

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – Dave Parker, a member of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates World Championship team, tips his cap during a pre-game ceremony honoring the team before a baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies in Pittsburgh, Saturday, July 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dave Parker, a hard-hitting outfielder who was set to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame next month, has died, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced Saturday. He was 74.

No further details about Parker’s death were immediately available. The Pirates informed the crowd of his death just before the start of their game against the New York Mets and held a moment of silence.

Nicknamed “the Cobra,” the 6-foot-5 Parker made his major league debut in 1973 and played 19 seasons, 11 for the Pirates. He was the NL MVP in 1978, won a World Series with Pittsburgh a year later and then won another championship in 1989 with the Oakland Athletics.

“All of us who grew up in the ’70s remember how special Dave was,” Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in a statement. “He had a big personality and his passing has left a bigger void for all who knew him. Our hearts go out to his wife, Kellye, and his family.”

Parker won NL batting titles in 1977 and ’78. He finished his career as a .290 hitter with 339 homers and 1,493 RBIs. He also played for Cincinnati, Milwaukee, the California Angels and Toronto.

Parker was elected to the Hall of Fame by a special committee in December. The induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, is set for July 27.

“We join the baseball family in remembering Dave Parker. His legacy will be one of courage and leadership, matched only by his outstanding accomplishments on the field,” Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. “His election to the Hall of Fame in December brought great joy to him, his family and all the fans who marveled at his remarkable abilities.”

Born on June 9, 1951 in Grenada, Mississippi, Parker grew up in Cincinnati and was a three-sport star at Courter Tech High School.

After playing for Pittsburgh from 1973-83, he signed with his hometown Reds and spent four seasons with the club. In 1985 he led the NL with 125 RBIs and was second in the MVP voting.

“He was such a big dude at a time when there weren’t that many ‘6-foot-5, 230-pound, dynamic defender, batting champion with power’ guys,” Hall of Famer and Reds teammate Barry Larkin said. “Everything about him was impressive.”

In a statement, the Reds said: “Dave was a towering figure on the field, in the clubhouse and in the Cincinnati community, where his baseball journey began, playing on the fields near his home and going to games at Crosley Field. Dave’s impact on the game and this franchise will never be forgotten.”

Parker was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012.

He told reporters that he burst into tears upon learning of his selection to the Hall of Fame.

“Yeah, I cried,” Parker said after receiving the news. “It only took a few minutes, because I don’t cry.”

Parker homered for the A’s in the 1989 World Series opener and took credit for helping the Bash Brothers of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire take the title with a four-game sweep of San Francisco.

“All of us throughout the game are deeply saddened by this loss,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We will remember the Cobra forever, especially as his name soon officially joins the legends of our national pastime.”

Pirates veteran and 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen paid tribute to Parker after Pittsburgh beat the New York Mets 9-2.

“He had to be like Superman to people when he was playing,” McCutchen said. “He was larger than life on the field and had a larger-than-life personality, too.”

Parker was a seven-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove right fielder, and when he retired after the 1991 season, he was one of only five players with at least 500 doubles, 300 homers, 150 stolen bases and 2,700 hits.

“I was a five-tool player. I could do them all,” Parker said after his Hall selection. “I never trotted to first base. I don’t know if people noticed that, but I ran hard on every play.”

University of Arkansas junior and Quaker Valley High School graduate Adou Thiero gets selected with the 36th pick in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Arkansas forward Adou Thiero, right, controls the ball in front of Texas A&M guard Hayden Hefner on Feb. 15. The Lakers acquired Thiero, the 36th pick of the NBA draft, in a trade with Minnesota on Thursday. (Sam Craft / Associated Press)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Brooklyn, NY) A former Quaker Valley High School basketball player was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night as the 36th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Adou Thiero is a junior in college who started playing college basketball at the University of Kentucky and then transferred to the University of Arkansas. Thiero followed the move there with Moon Township native and head coach John Calipari. The Lakers made trades to get the rights to draft Thiero on to their team in the second round of the 2025 NBA draft.

Governor Josh Shapiro champions Pennsylvania sports scene at Pocono, will work with NFL teams on stadium needs

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro talks to the media prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Pocono Raceway, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Long Pond, Pa. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro declined to get into specifics on the potential for the state to provide funding for any new sports arenas — a possibility that looms with the Eagles’ lease set to expire in 2032 — and said there were conversations about bringing NASCAR to Philadelphia as he championed the state’s full sports slate next year during an appearance Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Shapiro said he would continue talking with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and the Rooney family in Pittsburgh about what — if anything — the NFL teams need when it comes to the state of their stadiums.

Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium, the home of the Steelers, opened in 2001 while Lincoln Financial Field opened in 2003 in Philadelphia’s shared sports complex. The Eagles do not own the Linc. The team will need to renew its lease or build a new stadium, and Lurie said during the lead-up to the Super Bowl that he was “torn” over the idea of replacing the stadium or staying put in the home where they raised their only two Super Bowl championship banners.

If a new stadium is proposed, it won’t necessarily come with state money — Shapiro said the state would not provide any when the 76ers considered building a new arena (ownership did not ask for the funds) last year.

(The 76ers decided to partner with Comcast Spectacor, their current landlord, to build a new arena in South Philadelphia.)

“I’m very worried about the overall budget,” Shapiro said Sunday at Pocono. “I’m very worried about the overall economic situation given the federal cuts. You want to balance investing in tourism, investing in sports, investing in great arenas and facilities, with making sure that you’re also investing those dollars in things that Pennsylvanians need most.”

Shapiro, who spoke ahead of the scheduled NASCAR Cup Series race at the track, declined to get into definitive discussions about any stadium conversations with the state’s NFL owners.

“I will tell you that we want to make sure the Steelers, we want to make sure the Eagles, and all of our pro teams have outstanding places to play,” he said. “That are welcoming for fans. That generate revenue.

“We’re going to continue to dialog with them about what they need and what’s possible.”

Shapiro promoted the financial impact generated for the state each year because of the NASCAR weekend at Pocono. He praised Pocono Raceway officials for its third straight sellout crowd set for Sunday. The track sold out all frontstretch seating, premium seating, suites, infield camping and the grandstand camping area. It also is the fifth consecutive year that the entire infield camping inventory has been sold out.

Pocono President Ben May said the track sold around 50,000 grandstand tickets, around 2,000 suite seats and 3,300 camping spots.

NASCAR expressed at least a cursory interest in adding to its recent string of offbeat race locations — everywhere from Mexico City to a temporary track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — and floated the idea of holding a race inside a Philadelphia stadium, Franklin Field. The site is traditionally home to the Penn Relays and college football.

“There’s some conversations,” Shapiro said. “First and foremost, we don’t want to do anything that undermines Pocono. But as Ben (says), the more NASCAR the better. The more racing, the better. The more we can turn people on in communities that haven’t been to Pocono yet, to get excited about racing, and then make that trip to Pocono next year, the better. I want to see more NASCAR, more racing. I also just want to see more sports in general.”

He’ll get his wish next year.

Shapiro laughed when he said he calls into sports talk radio stations as “Josh from Juniata” and was all-in on the heavy inventory of major sports events headed to the state.

Among the events in 2026, Pennsylvania will host the baseball All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, the World Cup at the Linc and the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. The big year kicks off with the NFL draft in Pittsburgh next April.

“I worked my ass off to bring that to Pittsburgh, together with the Steelers,” Shapiro said. “I’m excited for them.”

J.J. Spaun weathers the worst of wet Oakmont Country Club to win the U.S. Open

(File Photo: Source for Photo: J.J. Spaun celebrates with the trophy after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Sunday, June 15, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — J.J. Spaun endured the toughest test in golf on the toughest course in America in the worst kind of conditions. And then he turned this miserable, wet Sunday at Oakmont into a finish as memorable as any in the U.S. Open.

The champion not many expected delivered two shots no one will forget.

First came his driver on the 314-yard 17th hole onto the green for a two-putt birdie that gave him the lead. Then, needing two putts from 65 feet on the 18th to win, he finished his storybook Open by holing the longest putt all week at Oakmont for birdie and a 2-over 72.

For all the mess Oakmont became in a series of downpours, for all the bad breaks and bad lies and bad shots that cost so many contenders, Spaun overcame a start that would have ended hopes of more seasoned players and weathered the pressure to claim his greatest prize.

“I never thought I would be here holding this trophy,” said Spaun, who finished last year at No. 119 in the world and moved up to No. 8 with his U.S. Open victory. “I always had aspirations and dreams. I never knew what my ceiling was. I’m just trying to be the best golfer I can be.

“I’m happy to display that here at Oakmont.”

He finished at 1-under 279, the sole survivor to par, and won by two shots over Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, who watched the finish from a scoring room and could only applaud the stunning conclusion.

Five players shared the lead with an hour to go. Four players were still tied as the U.S. Open made its way to the final four holes that frustrated Sam Burns and Tyrrell Hatton, and crushed the hopes of Adam Scott and Carlos Ortiz.

The last man standing was Spaun, the 34-year-old Californian with an eerie resemblance to the late Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris.

Never mind that Spaun lacked the pedigree of so many players groomed in elite competition, that he had only one PGA Tour title until Sunday, was playing in only his second U.S. Open and had never cracked the top 20 in his previous eight majors.

The ending was magical. The road leading to his U.S. Open title was hard work and resiliency, especially Sunday. One shot behind to start the final round, he had five bogeys in six holes, including a shot that hit the pin on No. 2 and caromed 35 yards back into the fairway, turning birdie into a bogey.

“It felt like as bad as things were going, I just still tried to just commit to every shot. I tried to just continue to dig deep. I’ve been doing it my whole life,” Spaun said. “I think that’s been the biggest difference this year has been being able to do that. Fortunately, I dug very deep on the back nine, and things went my way, and here we are with the trophy.”

It was calamity for so many others.

Burns had a two-shot lead going to the 11th tee, made a double bogey from a divot in the first cut on No. 11 and from a lie in the fairway on No. 15 so wet he thought he deserved relief. He shot 78.

“It’s a tough golf course, and I didn’t have my best stuff, and clearly it showed,” he said.

Scott, trying to become the first player to go more than 11 years between major titles, was tied for the lead with five holes to play. One of the best drivers could no longer find the fairway. He played them in 5 over and shot 79.

“I missed the fairway. I hadn’t done that all week really. Then I did, and I paid the price and lost a lot of shots out there,” Scott said.

Ortiz and Hatton also slashed away in slushy lies, all making mistakes that cost them a chance to survive this beast of day.

The rain that put Oakmont on the edge of being unplayable might have saved Spaun.

He was four shots behind and facing the tough ninth hole. And then came a rain delay of 1 hour, 37 minutes.

“The weather delay changed the whole vibe of the day,” Spaun said.

Remarkably, he made only one bogey the rest of the way.

But oh, that finish.

MacIntyre, the 28-year-old from Oban toughened by the Scottish game of Shinty, became the new target. He also struggled at the start and fell nine shots behind at one point. But he birdied the 17th and split the fairway on the 18th for a key par, a 68 and the clubhouse lead.

Three groups later, Spaun delivered what looked like the winner on the 17th, a powerful fade that rolled onto the green like a putt and settled 18 feet behind the cup.

On the final putt, he was helped by Viktor Hovland being on the same line and going first. Spaun rapped it through the soaked turf, walked to the left to watch it break right toward the hole and watched it dropped as thousands of rain-soaked spectators erupted.

He raised both arms and tossed his putter, jumping into the arms of caddie Mark Carens.

The celebration carried into those who lost the battle.

Hatton was talking with reporters, bemoaning a bad break on the 17th ended his chances of winning. He watched the Spaun’s putt and it brightened his mood.

“Unbelievable. What a putt to win. That’s incredible,” he said. “I’m sad about how I finished, but I’m very happy for J.J. To win a major in that fashion is amazing.”

Hovland, who shot 73 to finish third, saw it all — the putt at the end, the bogeys at the start.

“After his start, it just looked like he was out of it immediately,” Hovland said. “Everyone came back to the pack. I wasn’t expecting that really. I thought I had to shoot maybe 3-under par today to have a good chance, but obviously the conditions got really, really tough, and this golf course is just a beast.”

Hatton (72) and Ortiz (73), both part of LIV Golf and in serious contention at a major for the first time, tied for fourth along with Cameron Young (70). The consolation for Ortiz was getting into the Masters next year.

Scottie Scheffler, 10 shots behind early in the final round, was somehow still part of the conversation on the back nine. But he missed far too many birdie chances even three-putting from 12 feet no the 11th hole. The world’s No. 1 player finished with a 70 to tie for seventh with Jon Rahm (67) and Burns, his best friend who will feel the sting.

He had a double bogey by missing the green into a bad lie on the slope of a bunker. He missed a pair of 6-foot birdie putts to seize control. And when he made a mess of the 15th for another double bogey.

Through it all, Spaun emerged as a U.S. Open champion hardly anyone saw coming — not at the start of the year, not at the start of the round.

Aaron Rodgers is off the free agent and dating markets. Steelers QB says he recently got married

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) throws. during practice at NFL football minicamp, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers added another ring to his collection before he even signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The four-time NFL MVP quarterback and Super Bowl champion said Tuesday after his first practice with the Steelers that he got married “a couple months ago.”

Rodgers was spotted wearing a ring on his left ring finger in a photo the Steelers shared after the 41-year-old signed a one-year deal to join the team for the 2025 season.

When asked if the ring was an indication he was married, Rodgers replied, “Yeah, it’s a wedding ring.” He wore the ring on Tuesday while participating in drills with his new team.

Rodgers has revealed little about his bride. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” last fall, he mentioned he was dating a woman named Brittani but offered no other details.

His previous dating history includes long-term relationships with race car driver Danica Patrick and actors Olivia Munn and Shailene Woodley.

Aaron Rodgers says his decision to play in Pittsburgh this season was ‘best for my soul’

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) looks on during practice at NFL football minicamp, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers doesn’t need to keep doing this. He knows that.

The four-time NFL MVP’s decision to return for a 21st season and to do it in Pittsburgh was not about trying to prove something to himself, the New York Jets or anyone else.

The game has given a lot to him. Stardom. Wealth. A title. Relationships that will last long after he decides to stop playing. The next seven months — if they are indeed the last seven months of a career that almost certainly will end with a gold jacket and a bust in the Hall of Fame — are about trying to pay it forward while finding peace in the process.

Standing in front of a sea of cameras more suited for the week ahead of a conference championship game rather than what Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin calls “football-lite” in June, the 41-year-old Rodgers made a compelling case that the coda he is trying to author in Pittsburgh is about something deeper.

“A lot of decisions that I’ve made over my career and life from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, are always unfulfilling,” Rodgers said Tuesday after the first day of Pittsburgh’s mandatory minicamp. “But the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So this was a decision that was best for my soul.”

And one the Steelers believe is best for business, one of the reasons they put no pressure on Rodgers during the spring as he dealt with off-the-field issues that he’s said included having multiple people in his inner circle battle cancer.

Rodgers said those issues “have improved a bit,” clearing the way for him to join Tomlin and a team that has bounced from one quarterback to another since Ben Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021 season.

While Rodgers is hardly a long-term solution, he believes he has enough left to help a club that has gone nearly a decade without winning a playoff game. The path from the second Tuesday in June to late January and beyond is a long one, and Rodgers balked when asked if he could help Pittsburgh get over “the hump.”

He pointed out it was simply Day 1, with all the awkwardness that comes with it.

Rodgers couldn’t “stand” the new helmet he was forced to don after the model he’d worn for the last 20 years was finally banned by the league. He didn’t know many of the names of the other 88 guys who joined him on the practice fields on a day All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt skipped in hopes of landing a new contract. It took all of one step outside the locker room for him to immediately get lost.

And yet, there was a familiarity to it all. He’s known Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth since Arth made a cameo appearance alongside Rodgers as a player in Green Bay in 2006. Rodgers then rattled off a list of people he’s come across with Pittsburgh ties (which includes former Packers coach Mike McCarthy) and then added with a smile that he has “a lot of Yinzers” in my life, a colloquialism for Western Pennsylvania natives.

None of those names, however, convinced Rodgers that Pittsburgh was the right choice. That was all Tomlin.

The two stayed in contact over the last two-plus months following Rodgers’ semi-undercover visit to the team facility in March, producing what Rodgers called “some of the coolest conversations I’ve had in the game.”

“He’s a big reason I’m here,” Rodgers said. “I believe in him.”

The feeling is mutual. Unlike last year, when there was a quarterback competition — at least in practice if not in spirit — between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, there is not one this time.

While Rodgers, wearing a white jersey with the No. 8 on it and a towel unfurled over the front of his black shorts, mostly stood and watched while Mason Rudolph, rookie Will Howard and Skyler Thompson took the reps there is no mystery about who will work with the starters when Pittsburgh arrives for training camp at Saint Vincent College in late July.

The last few groups of quarterbacks, from Wilson and Fields to Rudolph (during his first stint) to Mitch Trubisky to Kenny Pickett, never missed a practice or an OTA. They are also not Rodgers.

“I trust that whatever issues or learning curve things that he needs to get through will be handled during the down period of the summer for sure,” Tomlin said.

Rodgers, who has worked out with recently acquired DK Metcalf in recent months, hopes some of the Steelers’ skill position players can join him in Malibu, California, sometime between when minicamp opens on Thursday and they report to Rooney Hall on July 23.

If they do, maybe they’ll get a chance to meet Rodgers’ wife. Rodgers was spotted wearing what looked like a wedding band in a picture the Steelers shared when he signed his contract. Rodgers confirmed Tuesday that he was married “a couple months” ago but declined to get into details.

The revelation, made late in his 13-minute session with reporters, hints at the many layers to Rodgers that extend far beyond the field. He’s not afraid to express his views about many topics, from vaccines to politics and beyond. Yet there was none of that on Tuesday.

There was only his firm belief in why he’s here, and the optimism that this perhaps final chapter of his career will be rooted in joy.

“It’s hard to think of anything in my life that’s positive that wasn’t impacted by directly or indirectly by playing this game,” he said. “So (I) just want to give love back to the game, enjoy it, pass on my knowledge to my teammates, and try and find ways to help lead the team.”

Steelers star linebacker TJ Watt skips the start of mandatory minicamp

FILE – Pittsburgh Steelers first round draft pick linebacker T.J. Watt participates in a drill during an NFL football rookie minicamp, May 12, 2017, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, file)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers might be ready to take the practice field for the Pittsburgh Steelers. T.J. Watt is not. The star outside linebacker is skipping the start of mandatory minicamp. Watt likely is eyeing a new deal as he enters the final year of his current contract. The seven-time Pro Bowler and 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year signed a four-year extension in September 2021 that was scheduled to pay him $112 million and made him the highest-paid defender in the league at the time. Cleveland defensive end Myles Garrett now holds that honor after signing a deal worth $40 million a season in March.

Matt Vogt once chose dentistry over golf. Back home at the US Open, he’s learned he didn’t have to

Matt Vogt walks past the clubhouse to the first tee for a practice round for the 2025 US Open golf championship at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Vogt was always going to be at the U.S. Open this week. The man who likes to plan had it all planned out.

He and his wife, Hilary, and their 15-month-old daughter, Charlotte, and their dogs would make the nearly six-hour drive from the Indianapolis suburbs and then crash at his mom’s house in Cranberry, about 20 minutes from Oakmont.

At some point, the 34-year-old knew he’d make it out to the course where he spent five-ish years caddying, a job whose perks included the opportunity to put a tee in the ground on Monday nights, something he admits now he didn’t do nearly often enough.

And the day after this year’s Open ended, Vogt would find himself back in the main office of the dental practice he opened in 2018.

That last part is still part of the plan, by the way.

It’s everything else about this trip that’s changed.

Three rounds of exquisitely steady golf — the kind Vogt found so elusive as a “hot-headed” 20-year-old that he left his college team to focus on his other passion instead — will do that.

So yes, Vogt will be at Oakmont this week after qualifying for the 125th edition of the national championship. In essentially his hometown, on a course that certainly feels like home on Father’s Day weekend, just two months after losing his father and biggest supporter, Jim, to colon cancer.

“This is pretty wild,” Vogt said on Monday while walking in for a news conference that carried on for more than 20 minutes, unheard of at a major tournament for an amateur with a respectable but hardly historic resume.

When “pipe dreams” become reality, it usually is.

Trading one passion for another

Vogt is a dreamer sure. Just a pragmatic one.

Even though he’s 6-foot-6. Even though he’s always been able to hit the ball a long, long way. Even though he’s long felt drawn to a game that requires discipline, focus and a touch of math, he never considered trying to make a living doing it.

By the time he graduated from Seneca Valley High School, an hour north of Pittsburgh in 2009, he was pretty sure he didn’t have “it.” A couple of years playing at Butler University reinforced what he held to be true: that he wasn’t prepared — physically or mentally — for the toll the game can take if you dedicate your life to chasing it.

So he took a break, a long one. He graduated with a degree in biology, then enrolled in dental school at the University of Indiana.

There was something about the combination of helping people, problem-solving and running his own business that appealed to him, even if he laughs now about all the things he didn’t know when The Dentists at Gateway Crossing opened its doors. Things like the fact that the rent is due even if those doors aren’t actually open yet.

“That was a freaky, freaky few months,” he said.

He quickly figured things out, and his practice steadily grew. Vogt now has another dentist on staff and has become an advisor to young doctors who want to follow the ambitious path he took.

Reorganized priorities

Around the same time Vogt’s practice opened, he made himself a promise.

“Don’t look back and be the guy, ‘Well, if I had just done this or that, I maybe could have done great things,’” he said.

He’s not sure why he started hitting balls with a purpose again in 2018. It just kind of happened. He quickly became a fixture on the Indiana amateur circuit and qualified for the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont but didn’t make it out of stroke play. The first number of his score was an eight, and the second was either one or two, and to be honest, he’s fine not being totally sure.

The disappointment didn’t linger. He shot 67 at the alternate site the next day. Not enough of a rally to become one of the top 64 who advanced to match play, but telling of the ever-increasing maturity of both his game and his approach.

Having a job, having a family to support, playing because he wanted to, not because he had to, shifted his perspective. He’s no longer a golfer first. At this point in his life, that might not even crack the top five behind Christian, father and husband, among others.

“One of the biggest changes is, I’ve gotten my priorities right,” he said.

Bombs away

Some things, however, have not changed. At least on the course. Vogt hits it far. How far? He ran into long drive champion/influencer Kyle Berkshire at a pro-am a few months after the 2021 U.S. Amateur.

Berkshire saw enough to invite Vogt out to Nevada to see if he could qualify for a long drive competition. While he didn’t quite reach the world championships, he did unleash a 466-yard missile that drifted out of bounds.

He had a blast, but also realized he was running the risk of spreading himself too thin. So he took what he learned and incorporated it into his skillset. It’s one of the reasons he opted to try to qualify for this year’s U.S. Open by picking a route that included a sectional at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington.

The “math and science geek” had done his research. He knew Wine Valley was wide enough that he probably wouldn’t run into trouble if he started spraying tee shots. He captured medalist honors after back-to-back 4-under 68s.

And suddenly, the dentist from Indiana was on The Golf Channel, his emotional post-round video going viral and his phone blowing up to the point that he asked Hillary to help him keep track of it all. Things got so busy last week that when Vogt tried to sneak out to practice, it wasn’t until he was nearly at the course that he realized he’d forgotten his shoes.

A grateful heart

Vogt’s soft spikes were back in their usual spot when he stepped off the first tee on a Monday unlike any of the others he’d ever experienced at Oakmont.

This time, he wasn’t slinging it in the twilight with the other caddies. Instead, he was walking down the fairways with good friend and occasional tournament partner Kevin O’Brien on his bag, saying hello to familiar faces on the other side of the ropes while he signed autographs, his father never far from his mind.

Jim Vogt was diagnosed with colon cancer last July. Less than a year later, he’s gone. Vogt — who is wearing a blue ribbon on his baseball cap for colon cancer awareness — is still processing it. He is pressing on and trying to lean into the joy along the way.

“I think this weekend is going to be full of gratitude,” he said. “And hopefully some good golf, too.”