Basketball, Baseball
Favorite athlete: Saquon Barkley
Favorite team: Eagles
Best memory competing in sports: Scoring my career high against William Tennent in the SOL playoffs on my birthday.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Getting dunked on in summer league.
Music on playlist: Drake
Future plans: Study business at Virginia Tech
Words to live by: “You don’t know it’s the good days until you’ve left them.”
One goal before turning 30: Start a family
One thing people don’t know about me: I prefer watching college sports over professional sports,
By Mary Jane Souder
Brady Fogle is a young man of few words.
The Upper Dublin senior captain, according to his basketball coach, is not a rah-rah guy, and he is not going to make the pregame or postgame speech.
“Brady was like (former San Antonio Spurs star) Tim Duncan,” UD coach Derek Brooks said. “He was quiet, but he did his job.
“He was respected by everyone in the locker room, and when he did speak, it meant something, but for the most part, he was a lead-by-example guy,”
And the senior captain was an effective leader for a UD team that reached historic heights during a dream season. The Flying Cardinals captured sole possession of the SOL Liberty Division title as well as program’s first ever SOL Tournament title, advanced to the District 1 5A title game and earned the program’s first trip to the PIAA 5A Tournament in 22 years.
“It was everything coming true,” Fogle said. “We won the SOL, which didn’t seem possible because PW has dominated us for years, and we hadn’t beaten them for eight years before that.
“We lost a lot of talent from last year’s team that lost in the first round (of districts). We weren’t getting a lot of publicity from the media or anything, so we kind of had a chip on our shoulders from the start. We really wanted it more than everyone else I think, and it was great.”
A first team All-SOL Liberty Division selection, Fogle – without fanfare - was a major part of UD’s success.
“He was such a key piece to have as an offensive player this year,” Brooks said of the dangerous 3-point shooter. “And he did other things too. He was a good passer, he took care of the ball, he was a great rebounder for his position, and he always knew what he was doing on the floor. If you asked him to do something, he would apply it right away.”
“You never had to worry about Brady. He was so quiet – a day or two would go by and you’d be like – ‘Have I even said anything to Brady?’ You’d have to remind yourself – ‘Hey, just go talk to Brady,’ just to keep in touch. Because he’d go about his business, he’d do his job. He wasn’t there with a serious face – he would have fun with the kids on the court. He would joke, he’s very secretly competitive as well. He loved to win shooting competitions in practice, and any kind of game he loved to play.”
This spring, Fogle is also a member of the varsity baseball team.
“He’s definitely a top-notch kid,” UD baseball coach Ed Wall said. “He’s kind of a quiet kid that stays in the background, but he is extremely personable, is willing to do anything for the team.
“He’s a great teammate and gets along really, really well with everyone. His dad’s a teacher in the high school. That tells you the type of quality kid he is. Both he and his younger brother (sophomore Ryan Fogle) are just good people from a great family.”
The journey
Fogle grew up playing soccer, basketball and baseball.
“Basketball was my favorite from a young age,” he said. “My dad was the coach on the rec and travel teams growing up, and I just found a love for it.
“My dad actually played baseball in college, but basketball was always his favorite sport. He kind of instilled it in me at a young age.”
Fogle stopped playing soccer in middle school in order to attend offseason practices for basketball. He joined the AAU circuit around that time as well, originally playing for East Coast Power before moving to Next Play.
“I really started taking it seriously and I worked hard at it,” he said.
Although basketball was his passion and occupied most of his spare time, Fogle continued playing baseball (his younger brother plays both sports as well).
“I liked the players on the team,” he said. “I don’t practice too much (out of season), but I like being there and having fun.”
His basketball career – which included playing mainly JV as a freshman and sophomore - went on an immediate upswing when Brooks took over the program after his sophomore season.
“It was great because – my sophomore year we had a good team,” Fogle said. “We made the playoffs, and we had one senior leaving and he was the seventh or eighth man.
“Since coach Brooks came along, it gave me a fresh start to show him that I deserved to play.”
It took very little time for Fogle to catch the eye of Brooks.
“When we took over, it was interesting because that was a team that had a lot of multi-sport kids and a lot of returning players,” Brooks said. “And with us coming in – for a lot of kids it was an opportunity, a fresh start. Maybe they can move ahead of a kid.
“When we got the job, we weren’t as aware of Brady as some of the other kids because he didn’t play varsity. Our guy who coached JV when we took over the team said, ‘Hey, that’s the kid that made all the 3s in the JV games,’ so he was the first one to notice him. Then it didn’t take long – Brady was a very committed basketball guy, and when we had our open gyms, he stood out very quickly.”
Fogle was in the starting lineup for the team’s summer league squad, and he never looked back, making an immediate impact.
“He had extreme belief in himself,” Brooks said. “Even if he was having a rough shooting day – you almost rarely had to say to Brady, ‘Hey, keep shooting’ because he would do it. You took him for granted because he was so easy to coach, and he applied things so well.
“When you have a kid who believes in himself like that, it just makes your job easy. You don’t have to worry about him having ups and downs. When Brady was on shooting the ball, man, there was almost no better feeling because it would feel like an avalanche of points sometimes just hitting the other team. Before they knew it, Brady would have three 3s, and they would be down 10, and everyone was feeling good about themselves.”
Fogle acknowledges he’s pretty much a fearless shooter.
“Whenever I got open space, I would try to shoot it because I know my teammates want me to shoot,” he said.
UD saw its season end in the opening round of the state tournament at the hands of an Exeter team that lost in the next round to eventual state champion Imhotep.
“It was definitely very hard to see it end,” Fogle said. “All of a sudden realizing you don’t have practice the next day is really hard.”
The next chapter
A two-year varsity player for the baseball team, Fogle is in the early weeks of his final high school season, a late arrival since his basketball season extended well into what is a very short preseason.
“I considered (not playing) a little bit when we made the long run in basketball and I was coming in halfway through the preseason,” he said. “A lot of my friends play baseball, and I’d be sitting home if I wasn’t playing.
“I didn’t think it would be a huge transition. I always hear the football kids saying it’s such a hard transition from football to basketball. When I was doing the first week of practice, I was really sore. I didn’t think it would be like that, but it was.”
Fogle – whose father was a pitcher - is expected to be a contributor as a relief pitcher.
“Brady – being as tall as he is – gives a totally different look to a hitter,” UD baseball coach Ed Wall said of the 6-4 Fogle. “We bring him in, and he’s a change of pace.
“He’s definitely a great option for us out of the bullpen in middle relief situations or someone that can go a little bit longer in relief. It definitely fits his skill set. He has really good movement, and being as tall as he is – he has a real good arm slot, it comes from a totally different spot.”
Outside of sports, Fogle is an excellent student with a course load of honors and AP classes. His GPA heading into his senior year was 4.3, and he is a member of the National Honor Society and is also active in student government.
It’s hardly a surprise that academics are important to Fogle since both his parents are teachers. His father, Mike Fogle, is a math teacher at Upper Dublin, and his mother, Cheri Fogle, teaches kindergarten at Vernfield Elementary School in the Souderton Area School District.
He will not be following in their footsteps.
“Maybe later down the road but not right now,” he said.
Fogle will be majoring in business analytics at Virginia Tech. If he chooses to play, his basketball career will be at the club level although he had opportunities to continue his career at the next level.
“It was difficult,” Fogle said of his decision. “I love playing basketball, but I feel like all the schools that were interested in me where I’d be able to play basketball – I didn’t really see myself going to school there. I’d rather go to a bigger school and play club basketball.
“(Virginia Tech) is a great academic school. When I went there – the culture, the campus itself was beautiful and everyone is so welcoming. As soon as I stepped on the campus, it just seemed like the right place for me.”
As for his basketball career, Fogle will leave UD with nothing but fond memories.
“It was really special,” he said. “All the accolades, the championships, all the recognition is great, but I’ll remember practicing with my teammates and friends every day, and just going out there with my guys was a lot of fun.”
