Fort Osage Male Athlete of the Year - Cody Hemme

Cody Hemme remembers when he was a little kid, watching coach Jerry Boyce’s Fort Osage Indians run over opponents regularly.
“We’d all go as a group, and we dreamed about the days we’d be playing at Fort Osage,” said Hemme, an all-state strong safety with 131 tackles for the 10-2 Indians.
“Then, well, the team was a little down for a while and all the guys who went to see them when they were one of the best teams in the area made a vow that we were going to be among the players who helped turn things around.”
But not before Hemme suffered through an 0-10 freshman season.
“I played as a freshman and I wondered if we’d ever win a game,” he said, chuckling. “Then, we win our first game under Coach Schartz the next year and go 1-9. But we knew the losing ways were done. We could hardly wait for the next year.”
The Indians followed Hemme’s 1-19 freshman and sophomore years with 8-2 and 10-2 campaigns.
Hemme became one of the most feared safeties in the state. No quarterback threw in his direction.
He’ll never forget a memorable wrestling season in which he finished second in the state in the 145-pound weight class.
“I still don’t believe it,” he said. “I lost to Farmington’s Craig Wilson, who was 214-4 in his career. He was like a three-time state and national champion and here I am wrestling him for the championship. I like to win – but you don’t feel too bad when you lose to a guy like that.”