Lowell senior Doak Dean following family footsteps once again with commitment to Harvard
LOWELL, Mich. (BVM) — The Dean family has left a lasting athletic impact in Lowell, Mich., and beyond. The youngest of three brothers, Doak Dean is keeping the family tradition going on the wrestling mat as part of a Lowell High School team that has won seven consecutive state championships. Next fall, Dean will follow in the footsteps of his two older brothers by becoming a wrestler for the Harvard Crimson.
Dean has been around sports — particularly football and wrestling — his entire life thanks to his family. His father, Noel, is a long time football coach who spent several years as the head man at Lowell High School. In 2016, Noel was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Association Coaches Hall of Fame.
“I’m grateful for my dad and words can’t really do it justice,” Doak said. “He changed kids’ lives through football and brought a lot of lessons to a lot of people. It’s really cool to say he is my dad.”
Meanwhile, Doak’s uncle also used to be a coach at Lowell High School, leading the school’s wrestling program. Doak’s two cousins, Max and Gabe — who lived just minutes down the road from him growing up — both exceled on the mat and went on to compete at Cornell University.
“They grew up two minutes down the road from me and were just like my older brothers,” Doak said. “They had really similar values to my brothers and it was really cool to see the success they had in college and high school. I take a lot of pride in the fact that they’re my cousins and I don’t take it for granted that I have such great role models.”
Doak’s sister is also a collegiate soccer player at Ferris State University. But perhaps the greatest influences in Doak’s athletic life have been his older brothers, Kanon and Zeth. Both brothers were part of multiple state titles while at Lowell High School, and each went on to wrestle at Harvard University.
For Doak, growing up around such successful older siblings and seeing what they were able to accomplish in sport and beyond served as excellent motivation.
“I always looked up to Kanon because he’s my older brother and I’ve learned so many things from him,” Doak said. “I saw him and Zeth wrestle and play football in high school and also saw how much their grades mattered to them. They’d stay up late doing homework and be the last ones at practice. They were doing all the right things to improve themselves and that pushed me to take things seriously.”
Doak took what he learned from his older brothers and applied it to his high school career as well, and it has turned him into a very successful athlete and individual according to Lowell wrestling coach, R.J. Boudro.
“He has the challenge of wrestling in the shadows of his family members, but in my eyes, he is just different,” Boudro said. “He is just so dedicated and so disciplined. He’s done a great job with time management and if there is ever an opportunity for him to get more out of his schedule, he does that. He is an extremely intelligent student, but also intelligent on the football field and wrestling mat. Those are skills I wish everyone had.”
The success for Doak starts on the gridiron, where the senior has played quarterback for the Red Arrows over the past couple years.
After playing JV as a freshman, Doak continued to do so at the beginning of his sophomore year before moving up to varsity to play linebacker. However, the Red Arrows would finish the year 1-8.
With a new coach brought in for the 2019 season, Doak and his teammates were motivated to win, and helped turn the program around by making the playoffs.
They would go on to do the same this fall in Doak’s senior campaign, despite the uniqueness of the pandemic-shortened season. After the year, the senior quarterback was named an all-conference player for the second year in a row, and was also named honorable mention all-state.
At the same time, Doak has been a star on the wrestling mat at Lowell as well. Although different, the 18-year-old has come to enjoy both sports he plays for a multitude of reasons.
“They’re two very, very different sports, but they are also similar at the same time,” Doak said about wrestling and football. “I love wrestling because it’s like the ultimate personal challenge and your success relies on you. Football is cool for the exact opposite reason. I love it because it’s a team sport and takes so much leadership and camaraderie.”
As a freshman, Doak entered a wrestling program that, thanks in part to his older brothers, had won four consecutive team state titles. Right away, he helped the Red Arrows to another team state title, while placing eighth individually at state in the 130-pound weight class.
Although slightly nervous to come into such a successful program, Doak showed he had what it takes right away, and formed an even closer bond with coach Boudro.
“Coach Boudro is amazing and he really puts everything he has into the team,” Doak said. “It’s cool coming in because there is a really high expectation. My first taste of varsity wrestling was a cool opportunity and although it was a little bit overwhelming, it went well.”
Doak continued his success into his sophomore and junior seasons, improving his individual finishes at state to seventh and fifth, respectively. Of course, Lowell won two more team titles as well, and helping the Red Arrows to three overall state championships has further proved Doak’s value to the team.
“He’s been a huge help to our team in a lot of different ways,” Boudro said. “He’s really conscious of how the underclassmen look at him and he wants to be more than just a good wrestler. To make the lineup at Lowell is tough … but Doak has done it and done whatever it takes for the team. It’s crazy, the kind of kids that I get to coach everyday. I’m pretty spoiled, and Doak is a great example of that.”
The Red Arrows hope to extend their streak to eight in a row, but their season continues to hang in the balance this winter. Tentatively, the season is scheduled to begin Jan. 16, and run through the end of March.
“I’m hoping that happens and if it does the goals are simple, I want to win a team state title and an individual state title and I think I’m capable of both,” Doak said. “It’s just about putting the work in at this point.”
“Doak is one of my favorites to win a state title this year,” Boudro added. “There isn’t a more deserving person to win a state championship than Doak.”
Whether Doak’s senior season commences or not, he is slated to follow in both Kanon and Zeth’s footsteps next year when he joins the wrestling team at Harvard. Predictably, Doak has been around the Harvard program for several years, and always knew that is where he wanted to continue his wrestling career.
“Harvard was always on my radar and I knew it was a serious contender for me,” Doak said. “I took my time and looked at some other schools that I thought could be possible interests for me. But eventually I decided I wanted to be here, I like the people here, I like the way it’s done here and I want to be part of the Harvard wrestling team.”
The Crimson officially reached out to Doak during his junior year, and the recruitment process took off from there, with Doak eventually making a commitment last fall.
“I know I’ll be happy there and I want to get better,” Doak said. “I want to be as successful in the classroom and on the mat as I can everyday and just get better everyday.”
Coach Boudro also believes Doak has a bright future at Harvard, and will go on to accomplish big things.
“The sky is the limit for Doak,” Boudro said. “I think a lot of people assume things have come easy for him because he is so smart, but that’s really not the case. Doak has worked extremely hard to get to where he’s at and I’m excited for him. He really loves wrestling and loves the challenge of trying to get better everyday.”
A big part of the Harvard commitment was indeed the academic side for Doak. Although unsure of what he might want to do career-wise someday, the 18-year-old will look to study economics or computer science. Doak has had plenty of success throughout his years in the classroom, as he will graduate from Lowell with a 4.4 GPA, having never received a grade lower than an A-.
Of course, attending the same schools — whether Lowell or Harvard — where his brothers have had success has always added some pressure on Doak.
“There is a lot of pressure,” Doak mentioned. “It’s cool in a sense that people automatically think you’re good at wrestling or football. But there is for sure an expectation and I struggled with it at the beginning of my wrestling career. I’ve learned to just be focused on myself and that you can’t worry about what other people are doing. It may be a struggle but it’s one I’m grateful to have. I’ve learned to be my own man and be my own person.”
While that pressure has always been there, the senior is proud to follow the same path as those before him, and is also ready to make his own name for himself at Harvard.
“It’s really cool to be able to do the same thing my brothers have done,” Doak concluded. “It’s cool to go to the same college as them as well, but I absolutely want to make my own name. I want to make sure that I’m not just copying them and that I’m doing everything I can to be really good with both academics and wrestling.”
