Hobart’s Tatum Leads Brickies’ ‘Men at Work’ Theme

HOBART – This is not a typical Hobart football story, the kind that has been around for generations.
Senior quarterback Aleks Tatum’s great-grandfather did not play for Russ Deal at the Brickie Bowl before spending his working years at U.S. Steel. Tatum’s grandfather, father and uncles did not play for Don Howell before gathering at The End Zone after games, filling the place with football talk.
Nope. Tatum’s story began on the other side of the globe.
His father, Chris, was born and raised in Australia. Eventually, he found his way to Anchorage, Alaska, where he met Aleks’ mother, Donna, a Hobart native who was working as a traveling nurse.
“I was born in Anchorage,” Aleks said. “I knew nothing about (American) football or the Hobart Brickies. I was a soccer kid.”
The family moved to Hobart in 2011, and Aleks began playing Pop Warner football when he was 5 years old. But the now 6-foot-2, 210-pound Tatum played defensive line.
The Brickie bug had yet to bite.
“I was still much more into soccer,” he said. “And I started wrestling a little bit.”
Today, Tatum is the starting quarterback for the state’s second-highest-scoring team, averaging 55 points per game. Hobart (4-0, 2-0) is also ranked 19th in the state defensively, allowing just 8.75 points per contest.
The Class 4A No. 6 Brickies will host Class 3A No. 2 Andrean (3-1, 2-0) Friday night in a monstrous Northwest Crossroads Conference showdown.
This one figures to be a fair dinkum affair, as they might say in the land Down Under.
“This is the biggest game of my life,” Tatum said. “This is huge for our community, school and ourselves. I don’t worry about staying calm. I want to take the resentment I have for the other team and turn it into excitement to play the game.”
Through four games, Tatum has completed 45 of 60 passes for 853 yards and four touchdowns. He has also rushed 37 times for 194 yards and four more scores.
Friday will be a date with destiny for both teams.
But the Tatum family has its own date with destiny.
Aleks and both of his parents were born on Jan. 1.
“What we’ve done so far, none of this will matter if we don’t show up Friday night,” Hobart football coach Eric Schreiber Jr. said. “We’ve got to take care of business.”
Schreiber Jr. is in his third season leading the Brickies and is 1-1 against the 59ers.
He has watched Tatum grow into the quarterback he is today.
As a sophomore, the speed of the game had Tatum’s head spinning. Last season, things began to slow down to a more manageable pace.
Now, everything appears to be firing at a high level.
At least so far.
“Aleks is now controlling the huddle. He’s a good communicator, and he’s much more vocal now,” Schreiber Jr. said. “He’s really leading an offense that we have a lot of confidence in.”
Tatum is hearing from colleges such as Findlay, Grand Valley State and Wabash. But there is plenty of football to be played before any decision about his future will have to be made.
For now, his focus is on Friday night.
And for a kid who once knew nothing about American football or the Hobart Brickies, there may be no better place to be than the Brickie Bowl.

By Steve Hanlon
Heartland Sports Network

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