GRETNA, Neb. — This is not a story about high school basketball. This is not a story about a cherished coach who died midway through the season. This is not a story of redemption, grief, or achievement.
It’s about unity. This is a story about a community and a team that, through its resilience and struggle to honor its lost leaders, reveals what sport at its best looks like.
Gretna High School will play Millard North in a Class A boys state tournament first-round game Wednesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb.
Brad Ficken coaches the Dragons to victory. He coached them with the passion that Nebraska is known for. His death on December 30, 2023, at the age of 48, after a more than two-year battle with neuroendocrine cancer, marked a new chapter for his players.
Gretna started five seniors and two others off the bench. Landon Pokorski, Alex Wilcoxson, Alec Wilkins, Kade Cook, Joey Vieth, Chase Doble and Avery Schendt have earned their legacies. This week isn’t important in terms of how they’ll be remembered — though, it still means a lot for them to pull off a performance like this in the state championship after months of pain.
Gretna players and coaches gathered at their high school the morning Ficken died. They feel more capable of moving forward as a team rather than individually. The schedule shows a Metro Conference Holiday Tournament quarterfinal game later in the day.
The Dragons chose to play. Nine hours later, in an emotional stadium, Pokoski scored the game-winning buzzer-beater. As teammates mobbed him, he pointed to the sky. Pokoski believes that if his delivery is just right, Ficken can help put the ball in the back of the net.
Couldn’t be better written. #gretna (@gretnabball) buzzer-beating shot through senior upsets Papio South @landonpokolski Just over 12 hours later #dragon Head coach Brad Ficken passes away 🏀🐉💚
@GEHSGriffins @WOWT6 News#nebpreps #ForFeek pic.twitter.com/TMu09zUnw9— Grace Boyles (@GraceBBoyles) December 31, 2023
From that moment on, the boys showed the way. Last fall, Gretna parents, teachers and supporters prepared to shore up the team as Ficken’s condition worsened.
The opposite is true—these seniors are inspiring communities to find answers.
“They keep showing up,” said Gretna Public Schools Superintendent Travis Lightle. “They just show up. They’re there for each other. As for the way they treat the fans and the little kids, they say, ‘This is what (Fecken) wants us to do.’ “When you watch them play, you see they’re playing the way he wants to play.
“They’re not angry. They’re not bitter. They just keep doing the right thing.”
My opinion of Gretna basketball is skewed. I’m biased. Too close to it, too involved.
I resisted engaging with this story professionally for months. But last week, things changed. I’ll get to that.
First, some background. My wife, Shannon, and I have lived in Gretna since 2005. Both of our children were born here. They grew up in this sprawling suburb southwest of Omaha, but one that was still small enough to foster attachment.
Ten years ago, I coached T-ball with Bill Heard. His daughter is 6 and mine is 7. Hurd, a longtime assistant on Feckengretner’s bench, took over the basketball team when his college teammates became too ill to coach.
He had spent the past nine weeks mourning the loss of his best friend. Hurd, who also oversees the Gretna softball program, plans to coach both sports when his two children reach high school.
Feiken won two state championships in his 21 years as head coach, but he made an even greater impact on Gretna’s life as a seventh-grade reading teacher. My daughter learned about life in his classroom four years ago. Few teachers were more important to her.
My son attended his basketball camp. Ficken’s team reflects his bubbly personality. This piece by Dirk Chatelain perfectly embodies the Ficken spirit.
When he became ill, the community rallied to support the coach, his wife Jenny and their children: Raylin, 13, Mellie, 11, and John, who turned 7 last month.
This was the scene from an impromptu event organized two weeks ago. If there was enough space, I’m sure more people than the entire population of Gretna would come out to support Fecken and his family. pic.twitter.com/0dobg200TO
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) December 30, 2023
In his final weeks, Fecken reached out to Brad Stevens, the general manager and former coach of his beloved Boston Celtics. Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg and Creighton’s Greg McDermott expressed their admiration for Fecken.
As news of Ficken’s passing spread, my family, like many others, felt called to compete in the Dragons’ Metro Conference Championship game on December 30th. The moment of silence and the pregame tribute to Ficken in the gymnasium at Omaha’s Creighton Prep added an emotion I’ve never experienced before — a mixture of disbelief, heartbreak and determination.
Hoiberg watched from the top corner of the seating area.
“Honestly, it was one of the most special games I’ve ever witnessed,” the Nebraska coach told me this week.
Gretna led by 15 points at halftime against Papillion-LaVista South, but the lead was gone as the moment came.
“We’ll never play a game like this again,” Pokoski said. “I still don’t fully realize how difficult that day was, how difficult that game was.”
When Pokolski drove across the baseline in the final seconds, with Gretna trailing 48-47, Hoiberg loudly predicted the shot would fall.
A town held its breath.
“Looking at the reaction from the team, those guys hugging and crying on the court, I know they did it for Brad and how much he meant to those kids,” Hoiberg said. “It was very emotional. I had tears in my eyes.”
He is not alone.
The Dragons with Feeken’s daughters Rylinn, 13, left, and Maylee, 11, after Gretna defeated Kearney 65-63 to clinch a berth in the state tournament. ) Together. (Courtesy of Angie Wilcoxon)
The tears didn’t stop that Saturday night. Nine days after Fecken’s death, his eldest daughter Raylene paid tribute to her father at his memorial service.
Hear an ode to Fecken. Pokolski and Wilcoxon talked about his legacy. For years, they said, Ficken preached to them about the importance of “doing the hard things.”
Three of Gretna’s five losses this season came in the first 18 days of January. It was a difficult time.
“Basketball is secondary,” Hurd said. “But basketball is really important because it’s where we all have to come together. Obviously, the kids need it. I need it.”
Ficken is known for leaving motivational messages on Post-it notes for players to find. In January, Jenny Feeken took his place, texting Gretna’s seven seniors.
They received an excerpt from Pound the Stone: 7 Lessons to Develop Grit on the Path to Mastery that Jenny was reading with Rylinn and Maylee.
Last month, as game time approached, her messages increased in frequency. Recently, she reminded seniors that they are ready for whatever life throws their way.
“Everything is difficult for them,” she said. “It helps me. They tell me they love it, so I hope it helps them too.”
The Dragons won nine straight games before losing by three points to No. 1 Bellevue West in the regular-season finale. The loss cost Gretna its spot as host in the state tournament preliminary round and a trip to Kearney High School in central Nebraska on Feb. 27.
In Carney’s hornet’s nest, a 3,000-seat stadium, Gretna’s path changed this season. Basketball roared back to the forefront. Another chapter begins. It’s Fecken’s night. The Dragons once again showed their quality.
Late in the regional finals, the roar of the crowd shook the floor. Kearney hit the rim at the halftime buzzer, giving Gretna a 65-63 win to secure a berth in the state tournament.
As you can imagine, no team in the state could handle this wild environment quite like Gretna. During the celebration, Raylin and Meili cut the final string of net from the rim. The Nets returned to Gretna with the girls.
“This is just one of those moments that’s much bigger than a ball game,” Hurd said.
Likewise, Hurd said the state tournament often elicits exaggerated emotions.
Gretna has felt the pressure of the postseason the past few seasons. Last year in Lincoln, Millard North beat the Dragons in the semifinals. The referee waved off Pokoski’s shot in the final seconds. Game film shows Fecken hitting his stride before Millard North held on for a 54-52 win.
Two years ago, this Mustangs team eliminated Gretna in the semifinals and the 2021 regional round. Pokolski said the Dragons’ history against Millard North is on their minds.
But is there pressure on Gretna? This team has no chance.
“When you go through what we went through off the court,” said Pokolski, the calm point guard who will play at Southwest Minnesota State, “it tends to make basketball a little bit easier. This year we should be Things we have done, we have already done.
“Our goals are bigger than basketball.”
(Bill Hurd and Gretna’s five senior starters pictured above (seated), courtesy of Nicole Stuchlik)
