The Opinion-Tribune's Athlete of the Year

Curt Schulte would guess Ryan Blum was in about fourth grade when he first saw him on a basketball court.

It was a Junior Rams game and Blum, then a lanky 10-year-old, was already a skilled player beyond his years.

“I saw it right away, I could just tell he was going to be special,” said Schulte, Glenwood’s head varsity basketball coach.

Five years later, Blum would help the Rams to the school’s first state basketball title. Three years after that, Blum would wrap up his career as the Rams’ all-time leading scorer on the basketball court and an all-state athlete in both basketball and football.

“We couldn’t wait until he got to high school,” Schulte continued.

Blum is The Opinion-Tribune’s 2020-2021 Athlete of the Year.

Athlete of Year awards are in Blum’s DNA. His brother, Andrew won the award for 2017-2018 after a standout season on the gridiron and the hardwood, where he helped lead the Rams to the 2018 state basketball title, winning state tournament most valuable player honors in the process. The elder Blum is currently a linebacker at Northwest Missouri State.

Ryan reports to Wayne State (Neb.), where he signed to play basketball last fall, at the end of the month. He said coaches have told him to come in prepared to play as a freshman. The coaches plan to use him on the wing at shooting guard in the Wildcat’s ball-screen heavy offense.

“They want me to get used to the pace and the physicality of the college level,” he said. “I think having an older brother and being used to be pushed around will help. I want to come out and play with confidence right away.”

Blum won’t be the only former Ram in the backcourt for Wayne State. Nate Mohr, who saw his Glenwood all-time scoring record broken by Blum last season, is a starting guard for the Wildcats.

A self-described basketball junkie, Blum played in his first organized game as a 6-year-old at the YMCA. He took to the game almost immediately.

“I loved it,” he said. “It was always fun. Growing up, my dad always coached me. It was my dad and Bob Hughes, they were always the coaches for our grade level. I loved hanging out with my friends and then being able to play basketball on top of it is tough to beat.”

Basketball is his love but Blum was always a multi-sport athlete. Soccer, football, basketball, track and field - he played it all.

But completing in his senior year in a global pandemic, a COVID season of questions and uncertainty heading into his senior year was not something anyone could prepare for.

“There were so many questions in the air whether we were going to play or not,” he said. “So, we didn’t want to waste any time so we decided we were going to act like it’s a normal season and go for it.”

Last summer, Blum helped organize socially distanced, off-season weight room and conditioning work in a shed on his parent’s property.

“We grinded the whole summer and during the quarantine,” he said. “We worked out every day, we were pushing trucks, running hill and doing whatever we could to get ready for the upcoming football season. We’d shoot in the driveway and keep the ball in our hands as much as we could for basketball. We ran routes. We did whatever we could to be ready not knowing what was going to happen.”

Five-on-five games were hard to come by and gym shootarounds were scarce. Two hard pills to swallow for a gym rat like Blum. But necessity being the mother of invention, he adjusted. One-on-one driveway contests were heated and always competitive and the time away from the court allowed for more study time.

“You just had to learn to do what you could in the hard times that we had,” he said. “I watched a lot of game film. I think that’s the biggest thing that helped me this year. I watched film from the past couple years, since my freshman year, and I learned a lot about basketball and I feel like my basketball IQ skyrocketed this past year.”

Glenwood football coach Cory Faust called Blum that rare “no days off” athlete.

“A lot of players kind of need a day off – the human body needs rest – but he always had a hard time doing that,” Faust of Blum. “He loves to compete and work hard, whether that being getting extra shots up in the gym, playing games or in the weight room.”

Schulte, who coached Blum all four years on varsity, always saw Blum as a skilled athlete but his attitude to still work hard and get better every year set him apart.

“I think that starts at home,” Schulte said. “His parents are fantastic people and I think he got a lot of that work ethic from them. He’s following in their footsteps.”

Aside from the physical improvements Faust saw in Blum from his junior season to his senior season on the field, there was just as much growth off.

“I think this year, Ryan stepped up as a leader,” Faust said. “He always brought good positive energy but this year, he went out of his way to be that leader, not just to the varsity starters but to the scout team players. I’ve seen him reach out to kids and use the platform he has as a good student athlete to make a positive impact on the teams he’s on and in the community.”

Blum was the Rams’ leading receiver on the gridiron last fall, averaging better than 18 yards per catch for 669 yards and six touchdowns and leading the defense with five interceptions.

Faust fielded calls from several coaches last fall inquiring about the 6-foot-4, 195 athlete who earned All-Hawkeye 10 and all-state honors.

“If I didn’t know he just really loved basketball more, he could have played a really high level,” Faust said. “He has the talent and the skills. He’s a physical, strong kids. His length I’m sure looked really good to the college coaches. I know they were impressed by him.”

Heading into his senior basketball season, Blum and his Ram teammates had high hopes. The Rams spent most of the season in the Class 3A top 10 and won 20 games but saw the season end in an upset loss to Atlantic in the district semifinals.

Blum admits his senior season didn’t end the way he nor his team hoped – in a district semifinal loss – but nevertheless called the season  “dream come true.”

“It was so much fun playing with the people I grew up with my whole life one last time and then having my coaches, Coach Schulte and Coach (Jeff) Bissen and Coach (Grant) Stivers, doing a great job every day helping us. Practice was a joy. We’d laugh and have a good time and then practice would start and we’d lock in and everyone is focused and hyped.

“Playing in the games, there was nothing like it. Having the crowd there, the Glenwood fans, they’re the best out there. Every game was a joy to play.”

Blum scored 37 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists in that 63-59 district loss to Atlantic. He also broke the school’s all-time single season and career scoring record in the game, surpassing previous record holder Nate Mohr’s career mark from 2015-2018. But Blum wasn’t in the mood to celebrate the milestone after the game. He’d have gladly traded every point for a Ram win.

“Nate Mohr is a hell of a player and he basically taught me everything I know but right now, it doesn’t mean anything,” Blum told The Opinion-Tribune on that February night.

Looking back now, Blum said he feels blessed to have broken Mohr’s record. But the game, that loss five months ago, continues to nag at him.

“I wish we could have kept playing,” he said. “I guess that’s just the way life goes sometimes.”
That feisty competitiveness and will to win is exactly what Schulte sensed in that springy fourth grader at the Mills County YMCA nearly a decade ago.

“I saw that right away,” Schulte said of the young Blum. “We couldn’t wait until he got to high school. We figured he could make an impact right away and he did. He just kept getting better and better. By the middle of his freshman year, he was a big part of our run to the state championship. I really thought he was going to be a great player from the get-go. And he certainly was.”

Blum hesitated when asked if the 2018 state basketball title was still the pinnacle of his high school career.  A state tournament that saw him came off the bench as rare freshman playing starters minutes, averaging 10 points and six rebounds per game in the three state tournament games.

“I don’t know if that was my defining moment in high school,” he finally said. “It was one of the biggest joys in my life. It was great being a part of that team and a part of Glenwood history. But I think just strapping up and lacing up my shoes and going out there for Glenwood every night will be what holds on to me the most.”