By Bryce McKinnis

Grant Tipton is one of Southmoore baseball coach Dakota Haines’ most exemplary players.

The junior is in student council, takes honors classes and is a National Honor Society member.

“He (Grant) shows up to baseball ready to work and takes a leadership role on the field,” Haines says. “He is always putting in extra work and growing on and off the field.”

Tipton has been playing baseball since he was five years old. “The game inside of the game” intrigued him.

“I realized it was going to be my sport when I learned that there is more to baseball than the game itself,” Tipton says. “There is strategy to it.”

His baseball talent, academic excellence and philanthropic attitude do not conflict; they go hand-in-hand, he says.

“Baseball has helped me impact my school and community by giving me social skills and showing me how to work with people in stressful situations,” Tipton says. “It has also helped me by showing me how to respond to teammates or classmates in times that we need someone to step up.”

But above all, Tipton plays for the blue and gold on his uniform.

“The greatest lesson I learned in baseball is that it isn’t everything, but the friendships that you make is what matters most,” Tipton says. “I am most thankful for my coaches and teammates that helped me grow as a person and also pushed me to become the best player I could be.

UCO catcher and former SHS teammate Hunter Nunn inspired Tipton “on and off the field,” he says.

He inspired me on the field by showing me the best leader doesn’t have to be the person that stands out, but a leader that gets the job done whenever he is called to it,” Tipton says. “He also inspired me off the field by taking me under his wing even though I was a sophomore and he was a senior.”

Tipton hopes to play baseball after high school, but his top priority is pursuing EMT certification at Oklahoma City University or Oklahoma State then “getting onto the fire department.”

VYPE: If you could swap places with any celebrity for a day, who would it be and why?

GT: I would swap places with Ryan Reynolds, because he is one of my favorite actors and he is also married to Blake Lively, so I’ll be rich and married to someone attractive.