Rockford’s Zach Bushbaum to play basketball for Coe College

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

ROCKFORD — No matter what the season or sport, Zach Bushbaum is a pretty good shot.

For instance during the current golf season, the Rockford senior has already achieved medalist (top individual scorer) honors numerous times.

But when Bushbaum sinks a putt or an approach, there’s no announcer bellowing “ZAAAACK BUUUSHHHBAAAUMMM!” — a common occurrence during Warrior home basketball games whenever Bushbaum connected from beyond the 3-point arc.

So you can’t blame Bushbaum in choosing basketball over golf for the sake of hearing his name enunciated within an amplified echo chamber.

But a little bit more consideration went into Bushbaum’s decision before signing his letter of intent to play basketball for Coe College, an NCAA Division III program.

“I made my decision to play basketball at the beginning of the (basketball) season,” Bushbaum said after his signing last Wednesday. “I would have liked to do both in college, but I realize there’s a lot of competition at the college level in golf so I thought it would be best to focus on basketball.

“Basketball is my favorite sport … golf is number two.”

For the past two seasons while helping the Warriors compile a combined 30-15 record, Bushbaum led the team in scoring and 3-point shots made. This past season, Bushbaum led the team with a 13.2 points-per-game average.

The season before, Bushbaum averaged 16.1 ppg and shot nearly 43 percent from 3-point range and nearly 88 percent from the free-throw line.

As already stated as being a good shot in both basketball and golf, Bushbaum was a gun-slinging quarterback for the Warrior football team’s wide-open offense as he passed for nearly 3,500 yards during his career at Rockford.

When asked why he chose Coe College, Bushbaum said, “Because I love Cedar Rapids and I love (Coe’s) coaching staff.”