Oct. 18, 2002

Josh Holden had made the walk dozens of times before.

The short stroll from Central Area to the buses waiting to carry him to Michie Stadium for football practice was well-worn by now. It wasn't a particularly long walk. It wasn't a particularly taxing walk. But something about reaching those long white buses on the other side of "The Plain" yanked hard on his emotions every day, pulled at his heartstrings like an internal "Tug-of-War."

It just so happened that the path for this three-minute walk that delivered him to football practice, led right past Army's pristine baseball stadium. It might as well have carried him straight back to the outfield at Hudson High.

Growing up the son of a football "lifer," Josh Holden never had a chance. His father, Mike, served as offensive coordinator at his Ohio-land high school for 30 years, smack in the middle of a football-crazed nation's heartland. Young Josh was "bred a Buckeye" from his formative days, the only option for Scarlet and Silver clad boys growing up in the shadow of the 'Shoe.

From the time he was three years old he can remember joining his father on the sidelines, sitting in darkened classrooms, game film flickering steadily through the squeaky old projector.

"The thing about being a coach's son is that you are around the game from the time you are a little baby," Josh says, a smile dancing across his face. "You're just immersed in what's going on."

There were the two-a-day summer practice sessions and the impromptu chalk-talks stuffed between the morning and afternoon workouts, when plays and strategies were tossed around like thoughts at a Town Hall meeting. And there was the annual New Year's Day Bowl Game extravaganza, when all of Mike Holden's staffmates would gather their families together to start the New Year off right, a wire-to-wire run of college football that began in the morning and spilled deep into the night. They would take in every game, chew on every play call, and pray to the Buckeye gods that the spirit of Woody Hayes would smile down upon the "Scarlet and Silver" once again.

By the time he was 6, Josh served as the varsity team's water boy. By the time he was 8, he had graduated to ball-boy status. It was the natural progression for the son of a high school football coach.

When Josh finally received the opportunity to play the game himself, participating in the local "Pee-Wee" league about town, he quickly displayed a treasure trove of talent. Clearly he had absorbed more than just a strong knowledge of the game from his gridiron-laced genes.

He was always the fastest kid in the huddle, the prized jewel of a rising fleet of young Buckeye hopefuls. And it was soon evident, this young bundle of speed and strength could dominate a game plan.

"They just kind of gave me the ball and got out of the way," he remembers.

It stayed that way for Josh Holden all across his high school days. Rushing records fell like snowflakes from a frigid Midwestern sky. He ran for more than 2,000 yards as a senior, collected all-star accolades like baseball cards. But something funny happened on his way to Ohio's all-state football podium. He suddenly became enamored with another sport. Baseball had seeped into his blood, even rivaled his burning passion for football. And all of those same physical tools that aided his success on the gridiron translated just as neatly to the baseball diamond.

* * *

The games have always come easily for Josh Holden. From the time he hit the youth leagues right through his entrance to the U.S. Military Academy three years ago, Holden's physical skills were always a cut above the rest.

He was destined for a stellar football career from the first time he attended one of his father's practices on the grassy fields of Hudson High. While baseball arrived much later in life, the sport came just as naturally.

After struggling through a season with the high school's freshman team, Holden stayed away from baseball the following year in order to concentrate on building his physical strength for football. He returned to baseball as a junior and "everything just seemed to click." By the time his senior year rolled around, Holden's eye-popping ability had snared the attention of professional baseball scouts far and wide.

He'd received modest interest from a host of Division I-A colleges to play football at their respective schools, but few offered firm commitments. Still, when that first letter from Army's coaching staff arrived in his mailbox, Holden quickly dismissed the notion of attending the Academy, banished the letter to a nearby garbage can without ever revealing its contents.

The Army coaches would follow their written correspondence with a phone call shortly thereafter. They spoke of a guaranteed place on the roster and the promise to challenge for a starting spot in the Black Knights' backfield.

"Army was very loyal," Holden recalls. "There were other schools that wanted me to walk on, but Army really pursued me. It's nice to feel wanted. I felt I really couldn't pass up the opportunity."

Holden arrived as a freshman and toiled with the junior varsity football program that first year. Baseball was a distant memory now, but it had not been purged from his mind. Every day on his way to football practice, he'd walk past Doubleday Field, stare out to the patch of plush, green grass in the middle of the outfield and long for a return to the place that had become his second athletic home in high school.

"I knew that I would have a lot of responsibilities at West Point, both academically and militarily," he says. "I didn't know if I would have time to play both football and baseball. "But when I was walking to football practice, I would look to my right and see the baseball team practicing and I kind of missed it. I wanted to be out in center field."

A chance meeting between Holden's high school baseball coaches and Army head baseball coach Joe Sottolano the next fall, paved the way for a return to the sport that still gripped his soul. Ironically, Holden's high school coaches were visiting the Academy to watch one of Army's football games. During a Saturday morning jog around campus the day of the game, Sottolano approached the men after recognizing the Hudson High shirts they were wearing. Sottolano had been aware of Holden's baseball prowess through his vast scouting network, but wasn't certain of the Army sophomore's desire to add college baseball to his teeming West Point resume. Holden's high school coaches quickly provided the answer.

The following spring, Holden was juggling time between Army's backfield and the leadoff spot in Sottolano's batting order, all while maintaining the rigorous daily routine of every West Point cadet.

His practice pattern changed by the minute. Some days he would head straight to football, other days it was on to baseball. On certain days he would spend time with both programs. From the batting cage to the backfield with hardly a stop in between. He'd chase fly balls one minute and pass attempts the next.

"The toughest thing is adjusting mentally, because the sports are so different," Holden explains in soft understated tones. "One is physical and violent by nature. The other is more skill-oriented. I wanted to play both sports here, because I knew I had the opportunity. Every time I set out to do something, I want to do the best that I can. It came down to the fact that God gave me this gift to play both sports and I want to get as much out of it as possible.

"I approach both sports the same way. I have fun playing both, but for different reasons. Baseball is very challenging. That motivates me to go to practice every day to work on my skills. I just love the game. And I love playing football ... the excitement, the crowds, the atmosphere. That's just a lot of fun for me."

Josh Holden had a lot of fun on the Black Knights' playing fields last year. Army's second-leading ground-gainer, he rushed for 515 yards and four touchdowns, averaged a team-best 6.2 yards per run. He also pulled down 15 passes to list among team leaders in that category as well. But it was during that hectic balancing act of a spring that produced Holden's flashiest results.

Despite missing a large chunk of drills with the football program due to his baseball responsibilities, Holden still landed atop head coach Todd Berry's depth chart as spring camp broke. The results were even greater on the baseball field, where Holden sprayed line drives from March until May, posted a league-best .398 batting average. And he rode that blazing speed to chase down every ball Army's old yard would hold, threw up a defense that made Army's football coaches proud.

"Josh is an awfully good athlete," says Berry. "He is a big, fast guy. You have to be a pretty bright young person to be able to play two sports at the Academy because obviously, there's always going to be academic pressure. I've been really proud of Josh and his ability to handle all of the things that he has on his plate."

"He has worked very hard to harness all his skills and develop into a major contributor," Sottolano states. "He has been blessed with a great deal of gifts, but he works extremely hard on and off the field. He's very driven and very motivated. Josh is one of those individuals that really cares about his teammates. He gives everything he possibly can because he wants to please so badly."

Holden credits much of his success to a steady dose of work put in at the Academy's Center for Enhanced Performance, a place where cadets routinely visit to train for the mental side of success. Visualization techniques and positive re-inforcement strategies are vital psychological tools Army's dual-sport dynamo has learned to master.

"We talk a lot about being able to filter out the bad things that happen and capitalize on the things that are good. We talk about how important it is to keep a relaxed state of mind when you play two sports. I really attribute a lot of my success to that training. It's taught me how to think effectively.

"Both sports are outlets for me," Holden continues, the words tumbling softly from his mouth. "Football is a great opportunity to go out and run off the week you've had. If someone is upset at you, or you did bad on a test, you can forget about it for a day and just play the game. With baseball, if you've had a bad day, you always have that first at-bat to look forward to. It's all about getting the most out of my college experience. I want to be the best I can. I want to be able to influence some of the younger guys, so that they will strive to be better. And I always want to have a smile on my face and have fun."

Josh Holden flashed another of those trademark toothy white grins, one that belonged more to the kid holding a water bottle along the sidelines of Hudson High than the West Point cadet leading a remarkable two-sport existence.

Somehow he's managed to blur the lines between the two.