By Harrison Leone
Assistant Sports Editor
For the golf team’s leading freshman Josh Stauffer, the transition from supervised adolescence to independent college life has been a smooth one.
“It’s really not that different than high school so far,” the Bradford, Pa. native said. “I mean, other than missing classes and the courses being more difficult, the sport is the same.”
Stauffer’s comfort and confidence is reflected by his stellar season thus far. In addition to leading the team in seven of its eight tournaments, Stauffer has garnered conference-wide attention, being named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week twice this season. Stauffer led the team to victory on its home course in September at the Leo Keenan Invitational, SBU’s only tournament victory thus far.
Despite all his accomplishments and the strength of his play, Stauffer said no single award or tournament has highlighted his season, saying that the experience has been routinely enjoyable.
“Actually, there has not been one instance that really sticks out for me,” Stauffer said. “So far, everything’s been pretty great all around.”
Stauffer highlighted his team’s close bond as one of his favorite aspects of his time at St. Bonaventure.
“We kind of work as a unit,” Stauffer said. “We are all good friends and we’ve been pretty close throughout the year. We’re truly a team.”
Stauffer was seemingly born with a club in his hands, having golfed throughout his childhood and adolescence. At Bradford High, Stauffer won the District IX Golf Championship and finished 11th at the state championship tournament. During his senior year, Stauffer medaled in 10 of the 12 tournaments that season.
“Golf has always been something I’ve done,” Stauffer said. “I’ve been doing it since I was really, really little, maybe three or four.”
Greens and fairways have always been kind to the Stauffer family, as both Josh’s father, Kirk, and his uncle competed as
professional golfers. Josh said this pedigree was one of the first things that got him into the sport.
“Having both my father and uncle as professionals helped to motivate me,” the youngest Stauffer said. “I would definitely say it’s a family thing.”
Growing up less than 15 miles from the St. Bonaventure campus, Stauffer was familiar with the school from an early age. Stauffer, who played basketball in high school in addition to golf, said that he had been coming to Bonnies basketball games for most of his life.
“I’ve been attending the games here for probably 10 years, so I’m pretty familiar with the campus and everything,” Stauffer said.
SBU was always Stauffer’s first choice for attending college, and as a two-sport athlete who held a 95 average throughout high school, he was not lacking options.
“I sent out resumés to a few different schools, but St. Bonaventure was always where I wanted to go,” Stauffer said. “They were one of the first schools I heard back from, and they showed a lot of interest in having me here.”
Stauffer said he thinks he and his teammates, of whom there is only one other true freshman, are in good shape for the remainder of the year.
“I’d say we’re looking pretty competitive right now,” Stauffer said. “When the A-10 preview came out, I was shocked (at the ninth place prediction for St. Bonaventure). Hopefully, we can go down to the championships and show them how tough we really are.”
