A love story of a different kind

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Teddy Baggett and Todd Simmons love God, basketball and each other.
Even though their career stats rack up only 207 combined-playing minutes, they are often referred to as the heart and soul of the men’s basketball team – just ask the Rowdies. The two seniors are passionate about their roles on the team, their spiritual lives and their deep friendship.
“We’re two guys who know our roles. Me and Teddy want to be out there as much as anybody, we want to play. But in the end result, we want that win,” Simmons said.
Though they don’t often get a chance to join the other players on the floor during the games, Baggett and Simmons assist their teammates in ways statistics can’t measure.
The first ones off the bench and the last ones to sit down, Head Coach Jay Smith said of Baggett and Simmons.
“I know one thing, if you cut them open they will bleed maroon and gold because they love the school and what it stands for,” he said.
Smith said Baggett and Simmons have been an inspiration to their teammates and they truly know what it means to be team players.
“Spiritually they’re terrific; on the court-work ethic – they’re great. I’m not sure where our team would be without them,” he said.
When Simmons, who is from Iron River in the Upper Peninsula, met Baggett, a Detroit native, at CMU in 1997, the pair said their differences were great.
“Our friendship definitely was a process that God took us through,” Baggett said. “We definitely had differences, (but) we worked it through.”
“With me and Teddy, circumstances have made us close, also our personalities. We both love God and we both want the team to win,” Simmons said.
The circumstances include knowing what it feels like to try out as a walk-on, get cut from the team and then be given another chance.
“It was just a blessing from God,” Simmons said. “I don’t take credit for it. It was a dream and he granted the dream.”
Cut the first year he tried out, Simmons went on to play one year under former Head Coach Leonard Drake and has continued his four-year career under the guidance of Smith.
Baggett, however, transferred from Benedictine University in Illinois, tried out under Drake, was cut from the team and then decided to hang up his hoop dreams.
After much soul-searching, Baggett said he found himself talking to God one night.
“I prayed the night before, ‘Lord, I would do anything to be a part of a Division I basketball game.’”
The next morning, Associate Athletics Director Gary Friedman saw Baggett working out.
“He was like, ‘Hey, kid, you play ball?’”
Baggett said Friedman introduced him to Smith.
“Jay said ‘come workout,’ and I came back and tried to work more than anybody else.”
Baggett said he saw that Simmons had some of the same characteristics he was aspiring to attain.
“I noticed that Todd was a hard-working guy. I admired that and that’s what I wanted to do too.”
As their friendship has grown, so has their popularity in the community, though they were both reluctant to admit it.
“You have people who come up to you. They’ll say, ‘Hey Teddy, hey Todd.” Baggett said. “He knows a lot of people.”
“Oh, no. He’s the worst. It’s ridiculous. This guy will hug anyone,” Simmons said.
“He always teases me,” Baggett said, laughing.
“You don’t have to make physical contact with everyone, Teddy.”
If they sound like bickering siblings, that’s because they consider themselves as such.
“We’re like brothers,” Baggett said.
“Yeah, I feel like he’s my brother,” Simmons agreed.
Aside from spending time together on the team, both players are involved in the campus group Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and, Simmons said, it needs to be mentioned that Baggett has a long-time girlfriend.
“Ebonii (Broadus, Saginaw senior) is great,” Simmons said, adding with a smile that he is single because “no one would put up with me.”
Going into tonight’s 8 p.m. match-up against Eastern Michigan University with an overall record of 5-18, Simmons and Baggett remain positive.
“I kept saying, ‘God’s going to test us this year’ and I don’t think he’s done yet. He has a plan for us, I don’t know what it is, but he has one,” Baggett said.
“Teddy keeps saying we’re going through all of this stuff and who knows what’s going to happen. I’m just thankful for the guys on this team,” Simmons said.
“If we didn’t have our spirituality this year, without that you have nothing. There’s no way you could get through a season like this. Nobody likes losing,” Baggett said. “But He’s going to keep blessing us through it all.”
As the season draws to an end, so do the basketball careers of Baggett and Simmons.
“I just keep trying not to look at the calendar. What makes it the best is the guys on the team. We have so much fun together, I hope people see that. I’m going to miss them,” Simmons said.
“For me, I believe I speak for Todd as well, basketball is another chapter in my life. As long as I know my teammates are walking with God, that they will carry on that tradition that we started, as long as I know they’re going to carry that along, I’ve done my job,” Baggett said.
“It’s been just an awesome trip. I’m just thankful to the Lord for granting my dreams,” Simmons said.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do next year without them,” Smith said. “They’ve been sort of an icon here, on the road and at home. It’s going to be a sad day when they graduate and move on. They’re just tremendous people and tremendous students. They will always hold a special place in my heart.”
Simmons said he will student-teach next fall and graduate in December with a degree in secondary education, majoring in industrial engineering and minoring in history. Baggett plans to graduate in August with a major in interpersonal communications and a minor in business administration.
But no matter what happens, the pair said their friendship will endure.
“He’s a great friend. I love that guy,” Simmons said.
“It’s never going to stop,” Baggett said. “There’s only eternity to go from here. It never ends, not till the day we die.”