Words by Jenny Lynn Davis | Images by Ryan McGill
Jase Dodd never needed an invitation to play sports.
Before he was old enough to join a team, he was already taking swings in the yard with his grandfather, learning how to shoot a basketball from his mom, and throwing a football long before he ever put on a helmet.
“I started when I was really young,” Jase says. “Baseball was my first sport. I was three or four, just hitting balls in the yard with my papa. I didn’t start football or basketball until I was nine or ten, and that only happened because a coach talked me into trying football. That’s what got me into both.”
That decision changed everything.
By the time he reached high school, Jase was doing it all – quarterbacking the football team, knocking down shots in basketball, and dominating on the baseball field, all while squeezing in time for track.
His stats prove he is an all-around athlete: 11 passing touchdowns and over 300 rushing yards in just six football games, a 17-point scoring average in basketball, and a staggering 97 strikeouts on the mound in baseball, where he earned all-state honors.
For Jase, though, the drive behind it all is simple. “Winning,” he says without hesitation. “I love to win.”
That competitive nature has carried him through some of his best moments and some of his most challenging.
Injuries have tested him more than most. In his junior year, he tore his ACL in the second week of football season. He clawed his way back, only to break his fibula in the first game of his senior year. Seven weeks later, he returned, hoping for a shot at the playoffs, but another setback came when he broke his humerus.
“Every injury happened in football,” he says. “I’ve actually been told I need to live in a bubble.”
Even after the setbacks, Jase never gave in. He suited up for basketball as soon as he was cleared, determined to finish strong. Now, heading into baseball season, a prominent surgical scar still fresh on his arm, he’s got one last goal in mind: win the state championship.
The pressure of being a multi-sport athlete is something few truly understand.
“It’s hard to focus on just one thing,” he explains. “During basketball season, you still have to get out there and throw a baseball. There’s always something to juggle every day.”
But for Jase, sports have never been about just one thing. They’ve shaped him, given him friendships that stretch back to Little League, and built a reputation that’s recognized far beyond the field or court.
“I think I’m known around Lynn because of sports,” he says. “My personality is pretty good, but people mostly know me because of baseball, football, and basketball. Sports have made me who I am.”
His future is just as mapped out as his game plan on the field. He plans to play college baseball while studying to become a physical therapy assistant. From there, he’ll work toward becoming a physical therapist, with the ultimate goal of opening a practice with his best friend.
When asked what advice he’d give younger athletes, he doesn’t hesitate.
“Stay in the weight room,” he says. “I never really worked out in seventh, eighth, or ninth grade, and it set me back. You don’t realize it until junior or senior year. If I’d been lifting back then, I’d be ahead now. So, stay in the weight room and keep your grades up.”
Jase Dodd has proven time and again that he’s built for a challenge. No matter where life takes him next, his drive to compete and to win will always be part of who he is. WL
