Sunday Profile: Jeremy Reichert

Click to Enlarge Reichert's high school career was filled with athletics and good-natured competition, with football in the fall, wrestling in the winter and track in the spring. Bonanza photo-Jen Schmidt Browse and Buy Tahoe Bonanza Photos

By Jean Eick
Bonanza Staff Writer
May 4, 2008

Print Email

Incline High School graduate gives back to his alma mater and is rewarded by the students he coaches as they become successful on and off the mat
As a young child, Jeremy Reichert spent his elementary school days in Bozeman, Mont. where he was born. The city is located in a valley surrounded by mountains and, like Incline Village, it also is known as a year round recreational area which provides everything from skiing to hiking.
Reichert and his family, including three brothers and his twin sister, Jamie, lived in Montana until he was 11 years old. He started school in Bozeman, Mont. and there he attended school all through his elementary school years. It was also in Montana that he started wrestling. According to Reichert, he has been a wrestler all of his life.
“I have been wrestling since I could walk,” he said.
When the Reichert family moved to Incline Village he was in the seventh grade. He said he was “like a fish out of water.”
Reichert found it tough to relocate to a whole new community and lifestyle. But with the intimate and friendly atmosphere of this small mountain community, he was quickly able to make friends at his new school, Incline Middle School.
By the time Reichert moved up the hill to Incline High School, he was no longer new to the community and had adjusted to the lifestyle. He also had continued his interest in athletics and became very involved during his high school years.
As a Highlander, Reichert was interested in several sports.
“I was an athlete so almost everything was centered around sports,” he said.
Reichert participated in three sports — football, wrestling and track.
“My favorite sport was football, but my best sport was wrestling,” he said.
And lucky for Reichert, the wrestling program at IHS had just started.
“The first year wrestling was offered at IHS was in 1993,” he said.
Reichert joined the wrestling program with his older brother who he had also been wrestling since he could walk. He remembered during a wrestling practice it included time in the hallways of the school.
“Wrestling practice included running the hallways of IHS for hours at a time,” he said.
“I was twice a state runner up,” Reichert said about his own high school wrestling career.
But he was also quick to add that in 1996 the year after his graduation from IHS, his best friend, Dave Cory, became the first wrestler to win a state title in wrestling for IHS. Reichert said that even now he and Cory are still in touch and continue their friendship.
All through high school, Reichert participated in the three sports but did not just confine his interest to the ones he enjoyed playing.
“I enjoyed cheering for the volleyball and basketball teams at their games,” he said.
He also enjoyed playing on the football team at IHS as well and during the football season said he had even camped on the football field. Another favorite memory of football season for Reichert was always the game played between Incline and Truckee.
Going to the Sizzler in Truckee each year during football season before the game with Truckee was one of his favorite memories from football season, he said.
At IHS Reichert found McFerguson Day to be another favorite activity to participate in. He explained that this special day always had the different classes competing against each other in relay races, tug of war and other track and field events. Being a competitor in this event was always fun, he said.
But Reichert was quick to add that during his high school years all of the students had a special rapport with their IHS teachers too. Reichert graduated from IHS in 1995 and had about 95 students in his class.
For college, Reichert chose a small liberal arts school located in the Appalachian mountains of southeastern Kentucky. The college was in the small community of Barbourville, Ky. He went to this college to fulfill his athletic dreams.
“I wanted to be a collegiate football player,” he said. “It was the last of my athletic desires.”
Reichert explained that he needed to get the football dream out of his system. And that was accomplished during his first year of college.
From then on Reichert remained focused on academics. In fact, he managed to finish in three years. Even with majors in math and physics, Reichert graduated from college in 1998.
During college Reichert found it tough to be away from his hometown of Incline. Each summer though he would return to work at the Lone Eagle Grille as a bus boy.
“It was a good job and kept me out of trouble,” Reichert explained.
At this time, he was also interested in becoming a high school teacher because of the many influential people in his life that had been teachers and coaches.
But after graduating from college and returning to teach in Incline, Reichert became interested in the health care field. He took a job at the Tahoe Forest Hospital and eventually that led him back to medical school at UC Davis.
Now Reichert is a physician assistant. He is trained to provide care as a member of a health care team and works under the direction of physicians and surgeons. He said that he did work at St. Mary’s in Reno for a while after completing medical school.
It was also during his time as a medical student at UC Davis that Reichert took on the challenge of becoming the IHS wrestling coach.
He said he decided to make this a priority and directed his life around this decision. The reality though of this decision was that he would need to put the three-month period of wrestling season ahead of other things.
And even though Reichert admits that he is always pretty tired during that one quarter of his year he also is committed to that decision.
“I have a strong passion for coaching,” he said. “My mind and heart stays with every kid I coach and I am especially proud of the kids that stick with the sport. I can’t think of one guy that I do not stay in touch with.”
Reichert continues to coach the IHS wrestling program now even though his career has taken him to a position at the California Correctional Center in Susanville, Calif. This means he now commutes every day from Incline to Susanville. This commute takes about two hours a day. He said however that he continues to do the wrestling program because of the rewards.
“Watching the students grow up to be successful members of society, that is where I get my reward,” Reichert said.
On his daily commute, Reichert passes the time with Podcasts. He enjoys listening to medical debates and music, anything except country music.
“Mt. Rose is pretty easy to drive in the winter,” Reichert explained.
Of course he leaves very early in the morning and returns usually late into the evening hours. But he is also committed to his career and says that each day is different and he never really knows what it will be like.
“It is not an 8 to 5 job,” he said.
Reichert admits summer is special in Incline Village and that is why he plans to continue to live here and commute to Susanville. His parents and sister also still live here.
“I would recommend life in Incline to anybody,” he said.
He also went on to explain that for most graduates of IHS there is a stigma attached to staying here.
“There is a lot of peer pressure to go explore the world and not to be a townie,” Reichert said.
But it does not seem to bother him and he definitely plans to stay.
“I enjoy the summer the best,” he said. “My girlfriend and I take our dogs and spend time enjoying the summer.”
Someday when Reichert is ready to retire, he plans to hang up a hammock and read a good book, but don’t expect that to happen in the near future.