Former C’view grad featured in movie

CINDY WOOD/independent feature writer

You have to love a good underdog story. Kyle Rase sure does, but then, he lived his.

When Rase’s Gibsonburg Golden Bears baseball team won a highly unlikely state championship in 2005, the Crestview grad took his father’s advice and wrote down everything he could remember about that season. Rase’s father, the late Ron Rase, thought it was the stuff movies are made of.

Turns out, he was right. “He was really the first person who thought this unbelievable state championship could be made into a movie or book,” Rase said of his father.

Bob Mahaffey agreed. Owner of Xcelerate Media in Dublin, Mahaffey was looking for the perfect story to tell for his movie-making debut. He found it in Gibsonburg, a 90-minute feature film due to be released this week in theaters around Ohio.

The movie is based on Gibsonburg’s 2005 season, which saw the Golden Bears end the regular season with just 6 wins and 17 losses, but then embark on a Cinderella run throughout the post-season that culminated with what many have dubbed the “miracle” state championship.

Although the movie is set in the village of Gibsonburg in Sandusky County, most of the footage was actually shot in Richwood, a town just outside Columbus. Filming wrapped in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and the movie went into post-production in early 2012.

Although there are fictional elements to the movie, the plot is largely based on Gibsonburg’s 2005 season, which ended with a 6-5 Division IV state championship victory over Fisher-Catholic and a place in the history books as the first high-school baseball team to win a state title with a losing regular-season record.

That year was one to remember for Rase. After earning his elementary education degree at Bowling Green State University, he took a job teaching middle school in 1999 in the village of 2,500 people and one stop light.

In his head coaching debut in 2005, Rase led the Golden Bears through their surprising tournament run, doing so with a little help from a friend, long-time Crestview baseball coach Jim Wharton.

During a pivotal moment in a post-season game and coaching from third base, Rase said he began to question what call to make. “I was stumped on what to do,” Rase said, adding that he looked to his former coach for advice. With Wharton in the stands to support his former player, Rase looked his way. “He gave me the signs, and since we were using those same signs, I turned and gave the signs to the batter and runner.”

A few games later, the Golden Bears won the state championship and Rase didn’t forget Wharton’s contribution. “There was one state championship medal left on the podium when we won, so I took it and overnighted it to his house as soon as I got home,” Rase said. “I wanted it to be a thank you for everything he had done for me and all the other former players.”

Rase recently completed his ninth season as Gibsonburg’s head coach, and he’s been traveling all over Ohio promoting the film at major and minor-league ballparks in Ohio. Last week, Rase threw out the opening pitch to start an interleague game between the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds.

“That was kind of surreal,” Rase said with a laugh, adding that he’s had quite a few of those moments throughout the whole process. “As we started to film, I had a lot of surreal moments. Obviously, reliving winning the state championship with a losing record, and then the whole movie process. And now it’s actually going to be playing on the big screen.

The movie was filmed and produced using a team of college interns. “I like to say it’s an underdog story told mostly by underdogs, because it was mainly college interns who produced it,” Rase said.

Although he’s not perfecting his Golden Globe speech just yet, Rase was pleased with his acting debut: he plays the assistant coach in the film alongside Ryan Kunk, who portrays him. “I actually had a great time with it, but I’ve never acted before this,” Rase said, adding that he received direction from an acting coach who had previously appeared on the series “Dallas” in the 1980s. “I don’t know if anything else will come from it, but I really enjoyed the acting.”

Also appearing in the film is Lili Reinhart, who most recently appeared on “Law & Order: SVU,” in addition to the new Fox series, “Surviving Jack.” The film is enjoying much buzz around Ohio, and it was one of 21 films selected for showing in its entirety at the Dances with Films Festival at the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

The film is being distributed in Ohio theaters by a Nashville company and Rase said he believes details are being finalized to distribute the film to Netflix, and possibly in Walmart stores.

It’s all a bit much to take in for a guy who grew up surrounded by the cornfields of northwest Ohio. Rase will be returning to the town he’ll always consider his home on June 8 and he’s looking forward to seeing old friends and family. “I love the people back there in Convoy. It’s where I grew up and it’s always going to be my home.”

That home is where he made many of the memories he cherishes today, playing for Wharton and long-time basketball coach Ray Etzler. Both men, he said, helped mold him into the coach he is today.

“Jim Wharton is an excellent baseball coach, and someone I really respect, more than in just a baseball way,” Rase said, adding that he’s been extremely blessed to play for such dedicated and knowledgeable coaches. Although the Knights appeared in the state final four in 1993, Rase said his fondest memories of baseball do not include an individual game or season, but the life-long friendships formed with his teams and coaches.

“We just had a great time every day playing and practicing,” Rase said, adding that, along with other former Crestview players, he’ll be rooting for the Knights this Friday in Columbus when Crestview appears in the state tournament.

“I just want to wish them all the best of luck,” Rase said. “I’ll be there along with many other former players. Go Knights!”