University of Wisconsin-River Falls Falcon Features Fall 2021 story by Kelsea Wissing
Jack Herum will never forget July 20, 2021. "No doubt, it was the most incredible sports moment of my life," Herum says. "Completely surreal."
The moment he's referring to would be the night the Milwaukee Bucks claimed the 2021 NBA Championship. On their homecourt at Fiserv Forum, the Bucks ended a 50-year title drought, topping the Phoenix Suns 105-98 in game six of the NBA Finals. Herum, a player development and video assistant for the Bucks, was right in the thick of the celebration, soaking up the culmination of so much hard work. The team had gone down 0-2 early in the series before battling back to earn four straight wins and cement their place in history.
For Herum, it was a dream fulfilled. A River Falls native and standout multisport athlete in high school, he chose to pursue basketball in college. He followed his older brother Marty to UW-Whitewater, where he spent three years as a student athlete before transferring to UW-River Falls. Marty had been drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Jack decided he wanted to be close enough to his parents to tag along to watch his brother play baseball. That was the first spark, he says, when explaining how he ended up back in River Falls.
"Ultimately, I'm a Wisconsin kid at heart. But truly I'm a River Falls, Wisconsin, kid. River Falls above everything," he says enthusiastically.
After transferring to UWRF, he was welcomed with open arms and quickly realized that he was truly at home. An exercise and sport science major, Herum spent two seasons on the basketball team before graduating in 2016.
"I am very happy with the route I took. I only have wonderful things to say about River Falls because I really did have such a great experience," he explains. "Hands down, some of my best friends today were on that basketball team. But it wasn't just them."
Herum quickly rattles off a list of folks who had an impact during his time as a Falcon. Crystal Lanning, current Falcon athletic director was an associate AD at the time and helped him adapt to UWRF after transferring in. Carmen Pata, strength and conditioning coach, guided Herum as he interned in the weight room, giving advice and becoming a lifelong mentor. Head basketball coach Jeff Berkhof, professors in his major, coaches throughout the Athletic Department, even former UWRF staff all had a significant impact on his life, he says.
"Everyone is willing to help, no matter what your goals are," he says. "The UWRF community really has an impact on people."
That community is what helped launch Herum to where he is today – on the bench with the world champion Milwaukee Bucks organization. He says a conversation with Rick Bowen, former UWRF men's basketball coach, led to a connection with the University of Minnesota-Duluth basketball program, where Bowen's son Matt was the head coach. After graduating from UWRF, Herum served as a graduate assistant for the Bulldog program before taking a coaching gig at IMG Academy in Florida. It was connections made there that led him back to his home state.
Herum returned to Wisconsin in 2019 as a player development coach for the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks' G League affiliate. He spent a season working with the Herd in Oshkosh before landing a position with the Bucks this season.
Now he's made it to the ultimate basketball stage and he couldn't be happier. He loves what he does in his "do it all role" where he helps the video coordinator with video for everything from scouting reports to personnel breakdown. He goes wherever the need is – he spent the playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks sitting on the bench assisting a scout coach. He also helps run pregame workouts for players and often serves as a scout player.
"Sometimes we don't have enough guys because of injuries or whatever, so we have to step in and act as a player for the day," he explains. "Or there's a player coming in to work out before practice, we guard them for the entire workout. At night, we're in charge of all shooting workouts so we'll come in and rebound for them. It's a lot of responsibility – you never know what's coming at you."
The season culminated in the ultimate highlight for an athlete or coach – a championship. In a season played under the cloud of COVID-19 – one where no fans were allowed early on and Herum says they constantly prayed no one would test positive – to end with a title celebration and parade was a dream come true.
"It was all a bit of a blur. It just went by so quick that it was tough to soak it all in. I'm still not sure it's sank all the way in that the Milwaukee Bucks did it. We won a world championship!" he says with palpable exuberance.
And while Herum's just getting started, the fact that he's accomplished so much in his short career is in no small part thanks to his time at UWRF.
"Being a Division III athlete prepared me so much. It's for the love of the game. You really figure out who you are and what it takes to get to where you want to be. You learn how to work hard," he explains. "The mentors I had at UWRF took me and helped sculpt me into a leader and who I am now. River Falls is just a place where you want to be because that's what they do for you."
