This Is Nashville

Legendary Borden Basketball Coach Doc Nash has changed the community, on and off the court

Doc and his son Kasym celebrate after Borden’s sectional victory in 2012 (News and Tribune: C.E. Branham)

Hayden Smith

Every champion has to start somewhere.

In a small Southern Indiana town, children flocked to Borden High School every October to play
the sport beloved by many in the state: basketball.

Kids from grades one through six are assigned to teams often named after collegiate or
professional basketball teams. During the games, one kid continuously shied away from
contact, too afraid to get hurt. Varsity coach Doc Nash of the Borden Braves stood across the
gymnasium, watching him, studying him.

Tired of seeing this timid approach, Doc approached the young kid. He pulled out $5 from his
side pocket and showed it to him. Every time he took a charge from then on, Doc would pay the
youngster $5.
On the next play, another kid came barreling down the lane at full speed. Instead of doing what
Doc just informed him to do moments before, he ran out of the way, once again too scared to
draw contact.

As Cruz Martin looked back at Doc, all he could see was the back of the coach’s head and the
$5 stuffed back into his pocket.

Doc was born into a family of four, living on a 200-acre farm in rural New Washington, Ind. The
Nashes were farmers like many others in Clark County, and all family members would chip in
around the farm with various chores.

This wasn’t your typical family in the 1980s. Doc hardly watched television; instead, he and his
older brother Jason would go out and shoot hoops. The older Jason played varsity basketball
for the New Washington Mustangs.

“I always wanted to be him,” Doc said.

In elementary school, Doc would go to the gymnasium and watch the talented Matthews twins
play for the Mustangs. Scott and Jamie Matthews brought New Washington their first and
second sectional titles in the late 1980s playing for their father Jim.

He was hooked. Doc wanted that same success for himself at a young age.

In the summer, Doc would play in the Hanover basketball camps, working on his craft with other
kids his age. At night all the kids would gather around a small box television in the old, smelly
dormitories. Michael Jordan and his Bulls amazed everyone through the pixels of the TV;
everyone wanted to be like Mike.

While everyone else was mesmerized by Air Jordan, Doc fell in love with another player through
the screen: Magic Johnson.

The Lakers legend was a flashy player, but all Doc noticed was how he made everyone around
him better. He was someone that could shoot and pass the ball effectively, which made Doc
want to play just like him.

Eager to see the same success he had witnessed years earlier by the Matthews twins, Doc
entered high school starting for the legendary coach Matthews as a freshman. The 15-year-old
had high expectations not just for himself, but for his team and was ready for anything.
As a player, Doc would only capture
one tournament victory in his four-year
playing career, something that still
hurts him to this day.

Upon graduating from New

Washington in 1997, the now
19-year-old Doc was playing against
some of the best in junior college, even
future NBA talents such as Vincennes’
Shawn Marion.

“The level of which those dudes could

play was unreal,” Doc said, “I played
against some of the best guys in the
world: Shawn Marion, Tyree Monroe, Pete Michael. There are some people that are in the
league that I got to play against.”

After four years in college, two with Olney Central and two more with Manchester, Doc once
again did not get to experience tournament success. Despite 20-win seasons, neither Olney nor
Manchester made it to the JUCO tournament. Doc graduated from Manchester in 2002, married
his high school sweetheart Misti Wampler, and bought a house in Southern Indiana.

Coaching was something he always wanted to do. He had interviewed for positions at multiple
schools until a small one in Austin, Ind. hired him as the JV coach. But Doc wanted more,
wanted his own team to command and lead to the success he never accomplished during his
own playing days

Borden is known for having some wildest fans in Southern Indiana. In other schools football is
the large money maker, but at a school with an enrollment of just over 300, basketball is king.

Jamie Martin grew up in Borden, the family practically bleeds red and black. In high school
Jamie was a four-year varsity athlete, playing cross country, baseball, and basketball. He
witnessed some of the toughest years of Borden basketball in the 1980s to 1990s; the team
won a mere two tournament games in twenty years.

The Braves struggled during the single-class era of the IHSAA, never getting past sectionals. It
didn’t help their situation when future Indiana Hoosier Pat Graham transferred out of Borden to
play at powerhouse Floyd Central.

“There was talent on the teams,” Jamie said, “but it was almost like wild talent.”
In the 1990s, if you showed up to a game on a Friday night, you wouldn’t be greeted by a noisy
atmosphere like they have today. The gym would be a third full, on a good night, mostly family
and friends of the players on the team cheering from the wooden bleachers they still have. The
only reason more people would show up to a game would’ve been to listen to the Borden pep
band.

From the first time Jamie’s grandma Mary took him to a Borden basketball game, he was
hooked. He wanted to be a part of the team. The problem was, he wasn’t very good.

That didn’t stop him from playing on the team for two years until he graduated from Borden in
1990. From there, Jamie went to Indiana University Southeast for two years before he finished
his degree in Bloomington. While living in Bloomington, he was approached about being the
public address announcer at Borden basketball games.

Since he resided in Bloomington then, Jamie would travel 70 miles down to the high school to
call a game and then get back in the car to travel another hour and a half back up. It was all
worth it to him and it was huge to just be a part of the program.

Years went on with Borden continuing to struggle in the tournament. In September 1996, Jamie
married Adandra Torres, and eight years later they had their first child.

After a disappointing 2005-06 season, Borden High School asked head coach Michael C.
McBride to resign. Borden wasn’t known as a premier basketball school; that title went to nearby
Floyd Central and Jeffersonville.

One name, in particular, rose during the coaching search; Doc Nash.

Doc wanted the job. Since he didn’t own a suit, he slipped on one of his grandfather’s, hoping it
would bring him luck. He had already applied for countless other head coaching positions
across Southern Indiana, including his alma mater New Washington.

He had been with Austin for four years, gaining experiences along with making connections with
the players he still has to this day. All he knew was that Misti and himself wanted to stay local;
after all, they just had their first child a couple of months prior.

The official announcement wasn’t made until May 2006. The News and Tribune article read:
“New Wash grad Nash to coach Borden boys’ basketball.”

Borden and Doc were a perfect match. An old-school community that loves physical, hard
nosed basketball with an old-school style coach. The Braves saw immediate success with Doc
at the helm, winning their first-ever sectional championship in just his second season.
 Emotions poured out after the team’s
victory over South Central in 2008.
Finally, after never seeing tournament
success throughout his high school or
college career, Doc was a champion.

After sweeping the regional

championship, the team traveled to
Southport to compete in the semi-state.
Taking on Indianapolis Lutheran, the
Braves led by five points at halftime until
a meltdown in the second half to lose by
18. In the locker room before the game,
Doc and Borden staff member Amanda
Cavins crossed paths.

“What would you do if you won the state

championship?” Cavins asked.

“I would probably quit on the spot,” Doc

replied.

Soon enough, the Braves were in

uncharted territory. After another
successful regular season in 2013, only losing three games, the march was back on. With the
post-celebratory “Harlem Shake” leading the way, Borden captured the sectional, regional and
semi-state titles on their way to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Not a soul was left in the town of Borden on March 23, 2013. The only activity in the town was
the flashing caution light at the main intersection. If you had never visited Borden before, you
would’ve thought it had been abandoned.

Taking on the Triton Trojans in the state championship, the Braves were up by seven with only
seconds in the game when Doc called timeout.

“Look over there, that team is hurting right now,” Doc said to his team, “I want you all to handle
this with class while we celebrate.”

It was Borden’s first-ever state championship. The town celebrated throughout the weeks to
come. After the game concluded, Doc danced his way back to the Borden gymnasium.

As the team traveled back from Indianapolis, fans of the Braves honked and screamed as they
passed school bus 504. Once they arrived in the town, firetrucks and police cars escorted them
to the school with sirens blaring. Small children were hoisted onto the shoulders of their parents
just so they could catch a glimpse of the team.

When Doc was finally able to settle down and fully comprehend what just happened, he
remembered the conversation he had with Amanda Cavins years earlier. Quitting crossed his
mind.

Why not go out on top? Doc thought to himself.

“I’m too competitive,” he finally decided, “I wanted to be able to coach my kid too.”

During the pep rally the school held to celebrate the state title, a 9-year-old stood from the
stands and watched in awe. One day, Cruz told himself, he was going to play for that team.

Basketball was in his blood. There was no doubt that Cruz would want to be a ball-player.

From a young age, Cruz took a liking to basketball. He and many other kids his age would line
up outside the Borden locker room before each game. Twelve Borden players running out in
their warmups, and trailing behind, 12 little kids barely able to keep up with the players.

It didn’t take long for Cruz to establish a relationship with Doc. Just before entering junior high
school, Doc approached Cruz to offer the youngster some advice.

“I want you to go this entire game without shooting the basketball,” Doc told him.

“Well, what do you want me to do? What else is there?” Cruz asked.

“You can set screens, you can pass the ball, you can handle the ball,” Doc said.

Once he entered high school, he was finally on the team he had watched from the stands as a
little kid. It was rivalry night in Eastern in front of a packed house. Purple and gold on one side
of the gym, red and black on the other. The place was rocking for another season to get
underway.

Only, this was a JV game.

Cruz’s freshman year was spent playing junior varsity basketball. Coincidentally, this was also
Borden’s worst season under Doc; the varsity only won four games.

Despite the rough season, Cruz had a memorable run with the JV team. Traveling to Austin,
Doc’s old team, the freshman dominated the game and came up clutch late in the game. He ran
to the corner, as he was instructed to, while point guard Mason Carter drove inside. The ball
was perfectly placed in Cruz’s shooting pocket, and with five seconds left, the ball swished
through the bottom of the net.

Mobbed by his teammates while celebrating in the huddle, behind Cruz stood Doc, smiling and
clapping like it was his own son that had hit the shot.

Cruz still continued to be one of the better players on JV throughout the season until finally, he
was given a varsity jersey for his performance. Glowing with excitement to finally suit up in the
same jersey worn by Zach Gillam years ago,
Cruz was ready to get on the hardwood, but it
would never happen that season.

“I lunged after something on defense and

whenever I did, I felt my knee pop,” Cruz
recalled, “Normally, I would be able to pop it
back into place but when I went to extend my
knee, I couldn’t, that’s when I knew something
was wrong.”

A torn lateral meniscus in his right knee would

sideline Cruz for nearly the rest of the season.
His summer was lost to surgery in late May, as well as months of physical therapy. In Baptist
Health Hospital, he was left to throw around medicine balls and use electrodes just to walk
without feeling any pain.

With the injury that occurred a couple of months before coupled with the fact that he missed the
majority of the golf season, Jamie could tell that Cruz was frustrated. By the time a new season
rolled around, he hoped that his son could still get a varsity jersey, after all, his defense had
begun improving and he was back out on the court in a knee brace.

Thankfully, Doc and the rest of the coaching staff saw the same thing and gave Cruz a varsity
jersey during the first game of the season. Jamie watched from the stands as Cruz emerged
from the tunnel wearing the number 35. He beamed with pride as he watched his son warm up
before the game.

The season came and went and it wasn’t much better as they improved by just two victories.
Once again for the seventh consecutive season, the team couldn’t get past sectionals.

“For small schools like Borden, things come in cycles,” Jamie said, “I had seen things like this
before.”
Things seemed to be turning around though. Doc’s
son Kasym was going to be on the team next
season and everyone continued to improve. Jamie
felt like soon enough they could get back to the top,
until COVID-19 hit.

It would shut everything down for the rest of the

school year. Cruz wouldn’t be able to play golf and
for most of the summer, they wouldn’t be able to
practice basketball.

For Cruz’s entire life before high school, he had

developed a relationship with Doc through his
parents' friendship. The two had become close but
not so much on a personal level. Especially
whenever it came to basketball, it was simply that
prototypical player-coach relationship.

Following the summer of 2020 and exiting the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cruz and Doc
grew much closer together. Now a junior, Cruz found himself using his free period during the
school hours to talk with his coach. They didn’t just talk strategy for upcoming games, but spoke
on a deeper level about life.

Doc would often share his own personal experiences to relate with the younger Cruz. All this
showed Cruz what kind of a man Doc truly was and they developed a much deeper personal
connection through these talks. He began to gain a new appreciation for his coach and
understood why he’d do the things he did; he began to view his coach not just as his coach, but
as his friend.

In practice whenever Doc would scream at Cruz while stopping his feet on the ground, turning
purple in the face, with veins popping from his neck, he understood and cared.

The thought of leaving Borden had crossed his mind. Doc had interviewed for an athletic
director position at New Washington and Silver Creek in the past couple of years, but never a
head-coaching position. The biggest thing that made him want to stay was the opportunity to
coach his son, Kasym.

Finally, as the era of quarantine began to wind down, Doc and the Braves were ready to take on
the rest of the field. Partnered with his newfound relationship with Cruz, he made the senior a
captain in 2022.
In the locker room before the start of the sectional tournament, everyone sat on the benches
and awaited Doc to enter and give them the game plan. In a fiery pregame speech from Doc, he
told the team that they had the opportunity to settle everything on the court, in which all of the
players nodded in agreement with a fire brewing in their hearts.

Borden would go on to defeat their rival Rock Creek in a game for the ages. Everyone
celebrated after the victory by banging on the lockers as hard as they could, making sure the
Lions could hear them from the locker room next door.

“How ‘bout them Braves!” Nash screamed as

he reentered the locker room.

A group of guys that had not seen a lot of

success in their four years playing for Borden
were finally moving on to the sectional
championship. The next morning they had a
shootaround inside the cold gymnasium
during the heart of March. Each player wore
wet practice jerseys that had recently been
washed, but you would expect them to be
lively and upbeat after a stunning victory.

Silence. The only voice that could be heard during breaks would be Doc’s.

Doc brought out a ladder and instructed the team to go into the auxiliary gym adjacent to the
main gym. He then handed each player a pair of scissors, telling them to walk up the ladder and
practice cutting down the nets. Once every player had a piece of the net, he ordered them to
throw it away.

Before the game, once again there was silence in the locker room. Usually a group of comedic
individuals who would continuously crack jokes given the chance, felt as if talking was wrong.
For the eight seniors on the ball club, it would be their last game on their home court.

Back-and-forth both teams went during the game, trading blows like two boxers in the ring. The
energy of the gym was unmatched with both fan bases exploding whenever their team made a
shot. Borden went up by 10 points in the third quarter before Christian Academy stormed back
to lead by seven late in the fourth.

We are going to lose this game, Cruz thought to himself.

Doc had subbed Cruz out after senior guard Sterling Mikel went 1-for-2 at the free throw line.
Sitting on the bench, he began to take everything in as it would be the last time he would play at
Borden.

Cruz watched as his team went back on defense trying to get a stop. His teammates began to
get stops but in weird ways. A charge was called on Christian Academy, then a five-second
violation, then finally a missed layup.

Once Cruz was subbed back into the game, Kasym

snatched a rebound after a missed layup by the
Warriors and began running the break. Cruz got out
ahead of Kasym, continuously looking back at him
with his hands up. As Kasym crossed halfcourt he
dished it over to Cruz who was wide open. Without
thinking, Cruz let it fly.

Why did I shoot it? Cruz thought.

“Nash coming back the other way. Martin a three.

Bang!” Borden SportsNet coverage screamed. “Cruz
Martin from downtown, trims the lead to one!”

Borden fans erupted, it felt as if the building might come crashing down. The only thing that was
in Cruz’s head was TV static, he barely knew what had even happened.

Later, the game would get tied up at 51. Everyone for Borden was lost on defense; Cruz was
guarding multiple defenders, yelling at a teammate to find his man. In a split second, Christian
Academy’s Joshua Renfro took off toward the basket with only Cruz between himself and the
hoop.

The game would come down to this.

“50 seconds left, Renfro driving over to doss. Charge! It’s a charge! The senior Cruz Martin
thought his season was done around the time they played Henryville and he just made the
biggest defensive stop of his career!” Borden SportsNet coverage said.

For someone who Doc had failed to bribe $5 to take a charge when he was younger, Cruz had
delivered in a clutch moment, free of charge.

From there, Doc called a timeout with just 50 seconds remaining in a tie ball game. Sitting on
the bench after finally regaining consciousness, Cruz looked up at his coach ???

As the play began to develop, everything seemed to go in slow motion. From the corner, Cruz
watched as his teammate Sterling Mikel drove to the basket with the seconds ticking away.
Immediately, Cruz threw his hands up as if to say ‘I’m open’. As he raised his arms, Sterling
lifted off the ground going up for the layup over two defenders.

“Pure pandemonium.” Cruz said.

Jumping up and down, Cruz ran to his teammate and embraced in celebration. But the job
wasn’t over as nine seconds were still on the clock. Doc subbed the senior out for more defense
in the final seconds, so all Cruz could do was watch the final play from the bench.

Christian Academy’s Brady Dunn received the inbounds

pass and bulldozed his way up the court until he was met
by four red jerseys. When Dunn went to pass to basketball,
every scenario began to flash through Cruz’s head in an
instant.

Celebration? Heartbreak? Triumph? Defeat?

As the final horn sounded with the scoreboard reading

Borden 53, Christian Academy 51, Cruz beelined his way
to his teammates on the court and celebrated with them.
He began to cry but nothing was coming out since he was
dehydrated.

Doc and Cruz locked eyes during the celebration. Nothing

was said, but nothing had to be said.

The two weren’t just champions, but champions together.

Special was the only descriptor Doc could use when

looking back on the 2022 team. He had only dreamed of coaching his son and on top of that,
they were sectional champions together on the same team.

“To see the joy on our kids' faces, that hug with Kasym meant the world to me.” Doc said.

Take away the wins and losses, championships, and highlight moments, for Doc, he just wants
to have a relationship with each kid he interacts with. He wants everyone to remember him for
the positive impact he’s had on the community, and Cruz can attest to that.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” Cruz said regarding Doc, “you took me from a pretty dark place
and you are the reason why I am the person I am today… you taught me how to appreciate the
people in my life and how to love life in general, there’s no one quite like Coach Nash.”
Doc is set to retire from coaching at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. He knows that there
is time for a new voice to be heard for the Borden Braves after nearly two decades.

When I played for Doc during my freshman and sophomore years, he always told us to leave it
better than we found it when we went out to eat. As Doc leaves the basketball community in the
small valley of southern Indiana; he certainly left the Braves better than he found it.