Paul Hiepler: Sideline Super Star
Abilene Christian University has made the NCAA tournament two of the last four years. This past year, as a fourteen seed, they were able to pull off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, when they beat the number three seeded powerhouse University of Texas in the first round. The most memorable player of this game wasn’t the leading scorer and wasn’t even someone who got to check in the game. The man who had the biggest impact was Paul Hiepler, a walk-on.
Paul Hielper is a well-rounded kid from Camarillo, California. Paul is a man who comes from a great family, a man of faith and a kid who would do anything for his team to win. As a walk-on, he would do anything for his team to be successful . As stated by Paul himself, “you don’t have to be the guy scoring 30 points on a team every game. I had just as big of an impact on the team as any player on the court”.
“I knew everything from plays, weaknesses, and tendencies”
Paul has a fiery passion and the NCAA tournament made light of this when he went viral for his constant support of his teammates. Throughout the game, you could see Paul from the sideline yelling at the top of his lungs, cheering on his teammates to a win. Every made basket and timeout, the cameras weren’t showing the players who just scored or the soon to be drafted players, they were showing Paul Hiepler. He recalls calling out plays Texas was running and knew their whole offense because he was on the scout team the day before the game. “We got to watch them in Indianapolis and between watching many of their games on my own time and our two practices running scout team, I knew everything from plays, weaknesses and tendencies” said Paul Hiepler.
Paul Hiepler the Sideline Super Hero since graduating
Since graduating from Abilene Christian in the fall, Paul has gotten married and moved back to California and will be headed to Pepperdine Law School in the fall. Overall, Paul is a testament to make the most out of your situation. He wants his story to be an inspiration to every student athlete that no matter what amount of playing time they are getting, they can always make a difference on the court.