GRAND ISLAND — Carlin Hartman pulled out a handkerchief and mopped the sweat off the top of his head.
Then he bent down to hug the latest in a long line of well-wishers. His white Florida Gators sweatshirt had a stain on the right shoulder from slightly bending his 6-foot-7 frame for those hugs.
He had every reason to be exhausted, but he wasn’t going to let anyone know.
Hartman returned to Grand Island High School less than a month after winning a national championship with Florida, where he is the associate head men’s basketball coach, to receive an award as a distinguished alumnus.
Between all that comes with winning a championship and refocusing on next year’s recruits, Hartman has had much time to relax. But Hartman shook hands, hugged and reminisced with anyone who approached upon returning to his alma mater.
That wasn’t a surprise to anyone who has known him over the years. The school might be a little different since he graduated in 1990 and the black fade sported in his yearbook picture has been shaved, but Hartman isn’t much different at his core than when he left 35 years ago.
“It’s quite an honor just to go through it,” Hartman said. “Fourteen years old, moving from Buffalo to come (to Grand Island) and not really sure what to expect. And this has been the best decision my mother could have made. That impacted me for the rest of my life. A lot of the core values I learned came from here.”
There is still a white-painted basketball sitting in Grand Island’s display case, commemorating his school-record 1,513 points. Current Grand Island senior Jayce Wylke was the first player to come within 200 points of the mark, but Hartman’s record remains intact.
Despite his prowess — he also holds school records for rebounds (787) and blocks (211) — Grand Island didn’t win a Section VI championship with Hartman on the court. He averaged 28.7 points and 15 rebounds per game in 1990, sweeping LaSalle, which won the Class A sectional title that year, by a total of three points.
But in the Class B-1 championship game against Kensington, Hartman hit what he believed was a game-tying 3-pointer from the top of the key with 13 seconds remaining. Before more than 4,400 people at the Niagara Falls Convention Center, officials ruled his foot was on the line.
It was called a two, Grand Island turned the ball over on its next possession and lost 68-66, despite Hartman’s 36 points.
“Yeah, I’m still hot about that. I thought we had the best team that year to be able to get to the state championship,” Hartman deadpanned before his lips curled into a smile.
Ironically, Grand Island won a sectional championship two years later with a team coach Jon Roth insists wasn’t as talented as the one he guided during Hartman’s senior campaign. Hartman joked that winning March Madness was a pretty good consolation prize.
It was a prize Hartman has fought to achieve during his 2 ½ decades as a college coach. And yet the path since graduating from Grand Island that has taken him to 15 stops in 13 towns and nine states didn’t make him any less eager to take a tour of his old high school and talk to the current students.
“I walked these halls, I roamed these halls in the four years I was here,” Hartman said. “So to be able to pay it forward with a message of when I was here means everything to me.”
Again, that’s not a surprising message for anyone who knows Hartman. Because before he rose to his feet to tour the school, Hartman called a former classmate an inspiration and the best athlete to ever compete at Grand Island.
While Hartman was the big man on campus (literally), an All-American who earned a scholarship to Tulane, there was another student beginning to dominate at a level even he couldn’t match. And Hartman always found time to stop her in the halls to congratulate her on the most recent accomplishment.
Stacey Schroeder-Watt was two years behind Hartman at Grand Island but she was becoming an All-American in track and field. She won nine Section VI championships and she set the state discus record (172 feet) in 1992, a mark that no one has come close to matching since.
“He would never take away the power or the impact of women’s athletics,” Schroeder-Watt said. “That just says a lot about a person, not just saying it’s my own spotlight. It went to all sports, no matter if he played them or not. And I really value that in our friendship. He was very supportive, as was I. I loved watching him play.”
The two athletes traveled in different circles at Grand Island but managed to stay in touch over the years. But in 2022, another thread to tie them together was created when Hartman accepted his current job at Florida.
Before returning to Grand Island as a pediatric anesthesiologist, Schroeder-Watt was a two-time All-American at Florida. She was elated when Hartman was hired and has even taken her family to Gainesville to see him since.
Schroeder-Watt intently followed Florida’s championship run this year and jumped at the chance to meet up with Hartman during his trip to Grand Island last month, even though she recently underwent shoulder surgery.
Her request after Florida beat Houston in the championship game? A ball signed by Hartman and the rest of the team. It showed up in a package on her doorstep a couple weeks later.
“It was one of the best days ever when I heard he got the job there,” Schroeder-Watt said. “… I couldn’t be prouder that he was going to bring basketball up a notch at Florida because I knew he would. Watching him succeed has brought me nothing but happiness. … The school, all the kids, they’re benefiting from him leading. They are so lucky to have him as their coach. I hope they recognize that.”