Hoppel Grew Up Around Winning Minor League Baseball Team

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

At the Hoppel household in Midland, Texas, there could be a great debate over who has been part of the best sports streak. 

Bryce Hoppel won 21 straight races in the 800 meters, including NCAA Division 1 indoor and outdoor champinoships, before the streak was snapped on the way to making the U.S. world championship team over the weekend in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Hoppel, who rose to stardom at the University of Kansas, announced Tuesday that he is forgoing his final year of eligibility to turn professional. 

Hoppel's father, Monty, is the general manager of the Midland RockHounds, a double-A affiliate of the Oakland A's. The organization made Texas League history when it won four straight championships from 2014-17. 

An older sister, Kelsey, played for the 35-0 2016 NCAA Division 2 national championship Lubbock Christian women's basketball team. 

Success seems to run in the family. 

"He's really taking one day at a time, hitting another goal and then going after another one," Monty Hoppel said. "Things are going his way. He's been a blessed kid."

Bryce Hoppel grew up around RockHounds baseball games, though not necessarily close to the players or in the clubhouse. 

He was too busy with his own sports, which included football and soccer before he moved to running, and track, as a high school sophomore. 

"Usually he would get to the (RockHounds) game half way through it, eat dinner at the ballpark and say 'Hi,'" Monty Hoppel said. "On the weekends he would come to some games. But he was never a batboy. He was too busy participating in his own athletics."

Hoppel took up the 800 meters as a junior at Midland High and finished second in the Texas UIL 6A state final. As a senior in 2016, two months after his sister's national title run, he won the Texas state title in 1:49.67. 

At Kansas, the goals started out somewhat modest, Monty Hoppel said. 

"The funny thing is, Bryce is pretty humble, but a long time ago he was confident," Hoppel said. "He said my goal is to run this time, and he mentioned the Olympics a while back. I think my wife and I looked at each other like, 'It's good to have a goal, but OK.'"

Now, Hoppel is headed to Peru on Thursday to compete for the U.S. in the Pan-American Games, which are under way in Lima. 

He will compete for the U.S. team at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar in October after finishing third in 1:46.31 behind the Nike Oregon Project's Donavan Brazier and Clayton Murphy.

"It feels amazing," Hoppel said after his race. "I'm glad to get to represent the U.S. and keep moving forward with my career. We'll see how it goes." SUNDAY INTERVIEW

If he can stay healthy, Hoppel has a solid shot of making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team. 

That realization takes the family a little bit by surprise, said Monty, who has been in the baseball business for 36 years and the GM of the RockHounds for the past 30.

"You get into Kansas (as a freshman) and it's can you score some points? Then, can you be competitive in the Big 12 meet?" he said. "Bryce has had this (Olympics) goal since a while back. He's had it on his radar screen."

Monty oversees an organization where athletes with big dreams move through minor league baseball like a carousel. Two who came through Midland in recent years, Matt Chapman and Matt Olson, are standouts for the Oakland A's and Gold Glove winners.  

In Midland, there is a display case at the airport with some of Bryce's medals. Monty said he has heard from the mayor and others in town who want to recognize Bryce's achievement. 

Could Bryce throw out a first pitch at a RockHounds game? Could there be an Appreciation Night? A Bobble-head?

First of all, it is unclear whether Hoppel will make it back to Midland before the end of the RockHounds' 140-game season in September. 

It's possible, though, that something will happen in the 6,669-seat Security Bank Ballpark.

"I'm one of those GMs who is not going to be self-serving," Monty siad. "Some people have asked about it. If he's in town, we might do something simple."