WOLSEY Its a phone call that no parent ever wants to receive. A child in a terrible accident, now fighting for his life. For Jay and Doris Mutchelknaus, in November 2013, that nightmare became reality. After holding on for a time after the accident, Bo Reinhold Mutchelknaus passed away on November 17 that year. He was just 20 years old.
Immediately, the Mutch family began ensuring Bos legacy. His organs were donated and provided new life for many.
The community of Wolsey came around the Mutch family to pray and offer support at the time of the accident, with a viral movement and Facebook page titled, Bows for Bo taking off with contributions across the country of people who hung a yellow, black, or yellow & black bow on their desk, car, around a tree, or somewhere public to show their support for Bo as he fought.
Bos grandmother, Fran Mutchelknaus, taught sixth grade for 35 years in the Wolsey district, and beyond her teaching, she was incredibly vocal at every Wolsey sporting event and would become so at every Wolsey-Wessington event once the two schools merged. Frans voice for years before her passing in 2015 encouraging young people to keep trying on the athletic field came back to the Mutch family in overwhelming community support.
Jay and Doris wanted to find a way to return their thanks to the community that supported their family while also carrying on the legacy of their son.
The idea came from then-Warbirds coach, Gordon Hooks, who took his team to a memorial tournament in Centerville over the holidays in Dec. 2013, and encouraged the Mutch family to consider a similar tournament in Wolsey in Bos honor.
We would have liked to have done football, because that was Bos love, Doris explained. But its just way too hard to try to get that fit in during the football season. Bo had been an important part of the basketball team in high school, so that was how it started.
Coach Hooks put a picture of Bo in the locker room and encouraged the team to play as Bo would have, recalling coming to Wolsey and needing to encourage Bo to ease off during football practice as an eighth-grader.
I asked him once, Are you having fun? Jay remembers, with a smile, He said that I just love to play. I told him it was a lot more fun when youre winning.
The Warbirds teams would win, and Hooks would credit the drive of Bo and other athletes in his class for sparking that revival of fortune for Wolsey-Wessington athletics, including a run to the basketball state tournament in his senior year.
When he was lying in the hospital, Hooks brought a group of current Warbird football players as well as Bos classmates to visit Bo. The brotherhood that developed and spurned those players to come to visit their former teammate was what Hooks hoped the Classic would do when he proposed the idea to Jay and Doris.
They made me kick the boys out, Hooks remembered. That bond was so strong that none of them wanted to leave Bo.
It was natural that the method to honor Bo would involve sports, with his passion for athletics of all varieties. The Big Bo Classic began in 2014 as a one-day holiday tournament. Its continued that tradition, with the family having the opportunity to encourage all in attendance to donate life.
The shirts for the Classic have always incorporated lime green, as a way to encourage people to check the box to donate their organs upon passing. The focus has changed from encouraging brotherhood to encouraging the gift of hope that donating can bring.
Doris notes that she has heard from multiple people who received Bos organs.
We heard about two people who received his corneas, she recalled. Then there was a young girl who was in an accident and through Bos tissue donation, she was able to walk again. We got letters from those.
She continued, Thats huge for me – turning trauma for us into hope for someone else.
Another part of the enduring legacy of the Classic is the scholarship program. Each year, multiple scholarships are given to seniors participating in the Classic.
Twenty-three $250 scholarships have been awarded in the 10 years of the event, with the Classic crossing over $5,000 in scholarship funds awarded at last years event. In total, students have received $5,750 in scholarship funds to date as part of the Classic.
Each game, there is a sportsmanship award given to a participant.
Oh, and theres basketball, too.
This years Big Bo Classic will be held Thursday, Jan. 2 at the Wolsey-Wessington gym in Wolsey. The games will kick off at noon with the Potter County and White River girls teams squaring off, followed by the Potter County and Hitchcock-Tulare boys.
The Wolsey-Wessington Lady Warbirds will play at 3 p.m. against Waverly-South Shore, followed by Northwesterns boys against Bennett County. The evening games will feature Hitchcock-Tulare and Kadoka in the girls game at 6 p.m. and the Wolsey-Wessington boys against Kadoka to close the days action.
Shirts are available for preorder at edenlynndesigns.com with a limited quantity available for purchase at the Classic.
As Jay chided Doris for rambling, she responded that she loves to be able to talk about her son and to share his story.
If I can talk with people about Bo all day, Id do it, she laughed. Especially when I can remember him with people who knew him as well. Every year, I get that chance when we get together.
This started out as a way to remember Bo, Hooks said. But its really become a community thing. The guys get together every year at the Classic and talk. Almost always when I see one of those guys that knew Bo, the subject turns to him.
Each year is a reunion as Bos siblings Jesse and Jenilee and their families, as well, as they come for the Classic to sweep floors, work the concession stand, and reminisce, as well as Jays family.
From day one, it was really all of us together. We draw on each others strength, Doris stated. It gets easier through time, but getting together each year helps. Its heartwarming to see his teammates come each year and get to catch up on their lives.
The Mutch family is quick to help the community that once helped them as well. Jay and Doris explain that any Wolsey-Wessington team that makes a state football final or a state volleyball or basketball tournament gets one meal paid for by the family, and they have donated back to the school each year as well.
The community has been great to us; the school has been great to us, Jay said.
Coming back to the community and the school is good for all of us in the family, Doris said.
Children are only lent to us for a short time. Doris concluded. We got to have him for 20 years, and he did as much as he could in those 20 years.
Now, the Mutchelknaus family honors Bo by extending his 20 years into a legacy that has touched numerous lives.
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