JWCC Prairie State Profile: Dickhut matures into talented three-sport athlete for Central

CAMP POINT, Ill. — Keaton Dickhut harbored ideas of being a multi-sport athlete when he entered high school, but physically, he didn’t exactly fit the part.

“I couldn’t even jump up and touch the net if I wanted to,” said Dickhut, now a senior three-sport athlete at Central who said he checked in at 5-foot-7 and 195 pounds as a freshman.

So the thought of eventually dunking a basketball didn’t exist.

“I would have been happy if I could have dunked on an 8-foot rim as a freshman,” Dickhut said.

What transpired over the next three years is a tale of what maturity and commitment can do.

Dickhut hit a growth spurt between his sophomore and junior years, shooting up to 6-foot-5. With it came the physical maturity that saw him become a rock-solid 205-pounder whose emphasis on development in the weight room paid dividends.

Dickhut earned second-team All-Western Illinois Valley Conference North Division honors as both an offensive and defensive lineman last fall. During the winter, he was a starter for the Central basketball team. And this spring, he’s starting as corner infielder and a pitcher for a Panthers baseball team hoping to duplicate last spring’s Class 1A super-sectional run.

It all goes back to work ethic.

“There was a lot of work with (Central football coach Brad Dixon) in the weight room,” Dickhut said. “I’m in Coach Dixon’s weight-lifting class in PE and putting in the work and putting in the time there. It was about trying to become a better athlete knowing it would pay off, maybe not the next day but maybe the next year. 

“Eventually, it would be worth the time I put in. As a junior and as a senior, it was very much worth it to have successful seasons.”

He even reached the point he could dunk.

“That was one thing I always joked with Coach Dixon about when I was younger, that I was going to dunk even though I couldn’t even touch the net,” Dickhut said. “I never got one in a game, but I threw a couple down in practice.

Dickhut discussed his athletic career, his camaraderie with his teammates and the best advice he’s received while talking with Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman for this Prairie State Profile:

Q: How has your senior season gone?

A: It’s nice to have a senior year that isn’t COVID littered and full of restrictions and things like that. It’s been a great senior year with friends and sports and getting college planned out.

Q: What has it meant to you to be able to play all three sports in the same school year?

A: It’s nice being able to go out one last time with the senior guys and play football. We didn’t know if that was going to happen. Being able to be competitive in every sport and playing with my best friends I’ve had my whole life and growing up together is special. Not knowing if we were going to get that makes it all the more special.

Q: What made you want to be a three-sport athlete?

A: Originally, I didn’t plan on being a three-sport athlete. I was not going to play football. I was going to be a baseball and basketball guy. Finally through enough peer pressure and Coach Dixon and Coach Rhea talking to me, I came out for football. One of the best choices I’ve made in my entire life is to be a Panther football player. I enjoy always being able to do something and not have an “offseason,” always having something to occupy my time and hold my responsibility and give me a reason to keep my grades up.

Q: What was it about football that made you go, “OK, I’ll play this”?

A: At that time, we were a perennially good team. I don’t remember which coach told it to me, but it was a comment like, “To be a Panther football is not about just being on the field but trying to win a state championship.” And then my freshman year, they went and played for a state championship. That was the driving force to motivate us for the rest of our high school careers to get back there.

Q: What did you find out you liked about football?

It’s just the camaraderie, the ability to play with the other 11 seniors who came up playing together. Not one guy can win or lose a game. It’s a team sport. Everybody contributes. Everybody’s important.

Q: It carries over to the other sports, doesn’t it?

A: Absolutely. I’ve played a lot of the same sports with a lot of the same guys in a small high school, and nobody has to be the guy every night. Everybody contributes and helps us win games.

Q: Does that epitomize your basketball team?

A: That was one of Coach Barnett’s big things. Everybody’s important for us to win a game. Eventually at some point in a game, you have to say, “I want to win more than the other team.” Everybody would take their turn. There would be nights where Nick (Moore) would carry the load, then Isaac (Genenbacher) late in the year, Breyhar (Wiskirchen) all the time. Making sure we won games was the main thing. No one cared who did it tonight. That was the attitude we had, and it turned our pretty good for us, too.

Q: Coming off a highly successful baseball season last year, the all-in mentality for everybody is important to continue that, right?

A: Last year definitely spiked our confidence and spiked the numbers on our team. We have a really deep lineup. Nos. 1-9 can all hit, all contribute, all play the field. We have a bunch of arms that will all step on the mound and can do a good job. Everybody contributes in their own way to help us win games.

Q: Of the three, do you have a favorite sport?

A: I would be hard-pressed to pick one. I know if I do I’ll get a quick nod from the other two and have them saying, “Why didn’t you pick this one?” So I’ll just cop out and say I don’t have a favorite.

Q: Is there a sport you haven’t played you’d like to try?

A: I wish our school had a bass fishing team, honestly. We added trap shooting this year, but it interferes with baseball. But I would definitely do a bass fishing team if we had one.

Q: Is bass your favorite thing to catch?

A: I would say catfish are because I would rather eat catfish. But bass would be No. 2 as my second favorite fish to catch.

Q: So do you have a favorite fishing hole you go to?

A: I can’t give away secrets like that. … But yes, there is one fishing hole I frequently visit.

Q: How much have the coaches you’ve played for at Central influenced you?

A: Oh, a ton. They’ve taught me lessons I never thought I learned playing sports or learn period that I will forever be grateful for. I wouldn’t be the man I am today without those guys..

Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

A: Being able to understand things don’t always play out. For instance, this year in football, our senior class goal was to go play for a state championship. That’s what they did when we were freshmen. That’s how we wanted to go out. Obviously, things didn’t happen that way. Knowing you can set goals and you can fail and that’s OK as long as the people you failed with are the people you wanted to accomplish that with as well. That was the message Coach Dixon had after we lost that game at Moweaqua. We had failed, and that was OK. It was still a great season. But doing it with the other 11 seniors — those were the guys we had done it with our whole lives — that would mean more to us than necessarily accomplishing that goal. That’s something that will stick with me.

Q: Is that what makes growing up in this area and going to a small school special?

A: Of the seniors who played football or basketball or baseball, I know all those guys. I talk to them every day. I hang out with them outside of school. I know everybody that’s in my graduating class. It’s a different kind of community, a different kind of camaraderie. You can rely on anybody and you can trust them. I think that matters a lot to the people here.

Q: So what’s next after graduation?

A: I plan on attending Iowa State University. I’m going to get an ag-business degree and hopefully start my own company.