Chicago, Il.—In its 31st year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, announced Sam Hauser of Stevens Point Area Senior High School as its 2015-16 Gatorade Wisconsin Boys Basketball Player of the Year.
Hauser is the first Gatorade Wisconsin Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Stevens Point Area Senior High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Hauser as Wisconsin’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Hauser joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners.
The 6-foot-6, 215-pound senior forward has led the Panthers (26-0) to a berth in the Division 1 state semifinals, scheduled for March 18. A returning Division 1 First Team All-State selection as named by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association, Hauser averaged 18.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.1 blocks through 26 games, shooting 55.4 percent from the field, 43.6 percent from 3-point range and 83.6 percent from the free-throw line. He led SPASH to the 2015 Division 1 state title as a junior. Also a standout golfer and football player, Hauser has maintained a 3.61 GPA in the classroom. In addition to donating his time as a youth basketball instructor, he has volunteered on behalf of the Salvation Army, the Operation Bootstrap emergency assistance organization and the National Honor Society.
“SPASH is a relentless and efficient team, and I’d describe Sam the same way,” said Scott Scheuer, head coach at rival Marshfield High. “He’s relentless and efficient. He keeps coming at you on offense and defense.” Hauser has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at Marquette University this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Hauser joins recent Gatorade Wisconsin Boys Basketball Players of the Year Henry Ellenson (2014-15, Rice Lake High School), Kevon Looney (2013-14, Hamilton High School), Luke Fischer (2012-13, Germantown High School), Sam Dekker (2011-12, Sheboygan Lutheran High School), Paul Jesperson (2010-11, Merrill High School), Josh Gasser (2009- 10, Port Washington), Ben Averkamp (2008-09, Germantown High School), Kwamain Mitchell (2007-08, Dominican High School), and Tim Jarmusz (2006–07, Oshkosh West High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
