The alliteration is obvious. The stories behind the names aren’t, at least until you hear them. They make perfect sense once you do.
Playing shooting guard for the traditionally successful Beatrice boys basketball program, Tilden Bardsley is the fourth of four brothers to do the same. Each of them has been a magnificent shooter and scorer, none of them afraid from letting it fly once past half-court.
All four boys have names that start with the letter “T” - including older brothers Tommie, Trey and Ty - and there is a story behind each. Tommie was named after his father Tom, so that nomenclature seems a no brainer. Trey is not named for the three-point basket all the boys enjoyed shooting, it is actually short for their mom’s name, Tracy. Ty is named Ty because he came along to break the tie, duh.
That leaves the youngest boy, Tilden. Why Tilden? “My folks thought it sounded presidential,” he says. Once he does I instantly envision a scenario where the school band strikes up Hail to the Chief after each three-pointer. Just an idea.
A three-year starter at Beatrice, a big deal in itself, Tilden is one of Class B’s best guards, averaging a healthy 19.3 points per game, shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc. He is part of a dynamic offense at BHS, one that features four players averaging double-digit points per game, including 5-8 senior Dalton Hartwig (12.5 ppg), 6-3 junior Cameron Jurgens (12.3 ppg, 7 rpg), and another long range bomber, 6-3 senior Brandel Riekenberg (11.4 ppg, 28 3s).
“I feel like we are getting there, getting better on defense and all around. We have four guys who can score, but you win with defense,” says The First Guard. “We are getting closer and closer to playing that complete game, and that’s our ultimate goal.”
As for Bardsley and his personal success, he didn’t just wake up one day and was good at basketball. Just ask his head coach, Tyler Struck.
“Tilden is an outstanding athlete who has put in a ton of time to making himself a great basketball player,” says Coach Struck. “His biggest strength has always been his ability to get to the basket and finish around the rim in a lot of different ways. His ability to catch and shoot, take quick dribbles for a mid-range shot, or drive all the way to the rim makes him very tough to guard one-on-one.”
Something else that helped make Bardsley into a pretty fair country basketball player was his practice time outside of, well, practice. Like a bunch of 6 a.m. shoot arounds at the local YMCA, things like that. And good as he’d been his first two years as a starter, Bardsley has made a jump in this, his senior season.
“Where he has improved a lot since his freshmen year is with his consistency in shooting the three and he has developed a great mid-range game with step back jumpers and quick pull-ups and floaters,” says Coach Struck. “He has made himself a very complete offensive player with a lot of hard work the last four years.”
Born and raised in Beatrice, Bardsley was born into a basketball playing family, taking to the sport like a fish to water. “Basically, I wanted to be like my brothers and do whatever they did,” he says.
Which is not to say there wasn’t some bumps in the road, like the time Tilden was brushing his teeth and oldest brother Tommie was in the shower, running his mouth, or so the story goes. Tommie sticks his head out of the shower to deliver some further words of advice to little brother, little brother slams the shower door on his head. “I think that led to some stitches,” Tilden remembers.
His star guard’s mischievousness doesn’t come as a surprise to his head coach.
“During practices and games he is one of the most intense and focused kids we have, but immediately after practice he can be joking around with the coaches or singing Karaoke on the bus ride home after a game,” says Coach Struck. “Tilden can be very hard on himself, sometimes too hard, and holds himself up to such a high standard on the court. So it is great that he also understand that this is all supposed to be fun and you are supposed to enjoy getting to play basketball with your classmates and friends.”
Tilden holds down an impressive 3.93 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society, this despite being suckered into taking Intro to Theatre by his buddy Hartwig. There is a joke in there somewhere. Tilden is also a member of the BHS student council and is a good bet to wind up at Nebraska Wesleyan - all three older Bardsley boys wound up there - and play himself some basketball. He plans to study something along the line of accounting once in college.
Beatrice enters this weekend’s play at 11-2, ready for tonight’s (Friday) River Cities Conference semifinals and hopefully Saturday’s finals. Take nothing for granted, though, because The First Guard doesn’t.
“We want to play every night like it’s a state championship game. That’s our mentality. We play like that, and we can beat anybody.”
