Today, athletes around the nation and around the state, even some local stars, will sign Letters of Intent to further their athletic careers.

Many athletes get this chance to further their careers and find collegiate success. Many do not. Others get that chance and have it taken away from them in an instant.

Matt Oswald is one such person

Oswald, a former four-sport star for Hillman who helped the Tigers win two baseball state championships, had dreams of playing professional baseball and had those dreams dashed.

This is his story.

It is Oct. 1, 2016, and Oswald is one of six honorees during the Hillman Hall of Fame’s annual ceremony. After Bev Cordes speaks, it’s Oswald’s turn. He jokes that he doesn’t have anything prepared and talks about how his long list of accomplishments happened with the help of teammates and the community.

“This community’s pretty awesome. You guys do a lot of good things …”

His voice trails off as he becomes emotional. He tries to gather himself, but he stops and the audience claps, showing its appreciation.

In that moment, he’s thinking about a lot. He is transported back to his childhood, growing up in Hillman. He thinks back to the backyard games, playing with his brothers and his friends on the field their father, Richard, built at their childhood home.

He thinks back to his high school days, when he was part of a baseball juggernaut. In those days it’s tough to find a team better than Hillman. The Tigers won championships in 1992, 1993 and 1997, finish runner-up in 1995 and make the semifinals in 1996. Loaded with rosters that include Tim and Greg Jones, Matt and Mark McMurray, Brad and Mike Cordes, Lucas Shepherd, Todd Dodge, Jason Weiland, Tom Barrie and Chris Kennard among others, the Tigers benefit from the camaraderie of playing multiple sports together and the talent that emerges as a result.

“Every player on those rosters played crucial roles on each of the championship teams. Attending a small school allowed us to play together in many different sports on and off the field year around,” Oswald said. “We all played as much as we could whether it was an organized game or just a weekend practice session helping a teammate get out of a hitting slump before a big game that next week.”

In the middle of that talented group was Oswald, a top-notch catcher, who caught talented hurlers like Greg Jones and Mark McMurray. In one of the game’s most demanding positions, Oswald loved to throw out base runners and had a sure-handed infield to back him up. He proved a vital part of the team, helping a talented pitching staff command games.

“I believe Coach (Dave) Checkley’s philosophy for his teams in the 90s was that he didn’t care about seniority or what your last name was, he wanted athletes that wanted to buy in to winning a state title year after year,” Oswald said. “He actually would cut a senior over a freshman if their abilities were the same because he would have four years to develop that freshman instead of starting over after that senior graduates.”

Eventually he caught the attention of Major League scouts. A San Diego Padres scout asked how much snow Hillman gets in the winter and was in awe that some students drive snowmobiles to school. He goes on to play in the Michigan High School All-Star Game, along with the likes of Drew Henson and Nick Alexander, an Alpena pitcher who goes on to pitch at Michigan. He has a few Major League tryouts, including one for the Tigers at Tiger Stadium.

He thinks back to his college days, back to when he had dreams of starring for Central Michigan.

He was recruited by a lot of colleges early, but chose Central Michigan as a junior and headed to Mount Pleasant, joining the likes of Jones and McMurray.

Oswald’s ideas of starring for the Chippewas came to a halt soon after. He developed a shoulder injury early on and despite rehabilitation, he still couldn’t throw without pain. He was told not to have surgery performed by a certain doctor and when he told CMU of his decision, his scholarship was done. Just like that, his dream of playing baseball, perhaps professionally is over. He watched three roommates, all ball players leave for practices and games, leaving him alone with lots of time to think. As a kid who grew up with dreams of playing in the big leagues, he was crushed with the realization his dream was over. For quite a while afterward, he was angry.

“I was angry and frustrated with God for a while but finally was submissive to His plan for my life,” Oswald said. “God will allow you go through situations you don’t understand, just to bring you to the place where He needs you to be. I had to trust His plan, not my pain.”

Realizing he must move forward, Oswald finished his degree and began teaching and coaching in Kalkaska. He had the surgery he needed after talking with a friend.

Back in Hillman, he wipes his eyes as the crowd claps and talks about the impact of the community. He thinks about his father, who passed away just a few months before his induction. He thinks back to going to games at Tiger Stadium with his father and grandfather. He thinks about the support of the community after his father passed.

“The Hillman Community as well as other small towns in northern Michigan, support their teams, their school programs and often times even end up donating their time and/or money for equipment, to ensure the community’s youth can play sports that teach the student-athletes about teamwork, discipline, sacrifice, and learning from failure,” Oswald said.

Oswald is not the only athlete to go through something like this, nor is he the only local athlete to have his athletic career cut short. One can only imagine the range of emotions an athlete feels when their career ends, whether voluntarily or by some other means. For any athlete there’s no telling when your career will come to an end, but regardless of how that end comes, hopefully those athletes can look back on their careers with fondness when it’s all over, much like Oswald can do today.

Long removed from his playing days, Oswald has found peace with his athletic career and looked back with fondness when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. In just three years of inductions, the Oswald family already has two inductees as Matt’s older brother Mark was inducted in 2015. With any luck their brother Mike will soon join them among the plaques hanging outside the Hillman High gym.

Today he lives and works in Indianapolis in therapeutic foster care. His organization works with kids who have experienced neglect, abuse and trauma in their lives. Oswald and his wife Linda have foster-to-adopted a two-year-old boy and have fostered an 18-year-old to whom Oswald served as a mentor for over a year. Last year, Oswald and his wife welcomed a baby boy into the family as well.

“I’m all for striving for success and chasing whatever your heart desires but there’s a piece to life that is equally important,” Oswald said. “The relationships you have with people you share a similar passion with mean more to me now than a few boxes full of trophies in the basement.”