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When the Wisconsin Badgers face UW-Green Bay in an exhibition game on Oct. 15 at the Resch Center, sophomore guard Zach Kinziger won't be the only local basketball standout present. While Kinziger, who helped De Pere win the WIAA Division 1 state title in 2023, will contribute on the court, Sam Sommerfeldt will make his impact from the sidelines.
Sommerfeldt, a former Marinette guard, is in his first year as head basketball manager for the Badgers, overseeing a staff of 19 that supports coaches and players. The role demands long hours and often goes unnoticed outside the team, but Sommerfeldt embraces every moment. He attends morning classes, then heads straight to the Kohl Center, staying until night before repeating the cycle.
He follows a recent tradition of local athletes serving as top manager for the Badgers, including Ashwaubenon's Brady Wittig and Bay Port's Brett Frieder. Like them, Sommerfeldt was a skilled player in high school. As a senior in 2024, he became the sixth player in Marinette history to reach 1,000 career points. That season, he averaged a career-best 16.3 points per game—his third consecutive year averaging double figures—and earned first-team all-conference honors in the North Eastern.
Despite interest from NCAA Division III UW-River Falls, Sommerfeldt had already earned an associate degree from UWGB alongside his high school diploma. Majoring in education limited his college options for both academics and basketball. Although he considered playing elsewhere, he harbored a desire to be at Wisconsin, and Wisconsin ultimately won out.
His path to the Badgers began in April 2024 at UWGB, when the school sought a new men's basketball coach after Sundance Wicks left for Wyoming. Former Kaukauna star Jordan McCabe, who had joined the Phoenix as an assistant under Wicks just weeks earlier, chose to stay at UWGB. The Sommerfeldt and McCabe families have long been friends; McCabe's father, Matt, assisted Sommerfeldt's father, Daren, for one season with the Marinette boys basketball team when Jordan was young.
Sam woke at 5 a.m. three days a week to drive from Marinette to Green Bay, assisting McCabe with various tasks, essentially serving as a manager. This continued through the spring and summer after Doug Gottlieb was hired as Phoenix coach. When Sam arrived in Madison as a freshman that fall, he was hired as one of the Badgers' managers, aiming to start at the ground level and advance.
Over the next two years, he paid his dues, doing whatever was asked—whether it meant early mornings at the Kohl Center, a routine he had already mastered during a summer at UWGB. He focused on performing well, no matter how small the task. Team managers ensure the basketball operation runs smoothly: they operate practice clocks, clean the court, pack or move equipment, help break down film, order food, and occasionally even join drills.
His responsibilities grew in his sophomore year when he was promoted to lead manager. "I think all of that kind of culminated together to being where I am right now," he said. This season, he took over the top spot from Taylor Yaklich, who graduated and now works as a partnerships coordinator at ESPN Madison.
As head manager, Sommerfeldt leads the group, travels with the team for every road game, attends every practice, and communicates with Wisconsin coach Greg Gard. It's common for a head manager to shadow the head coach during practices. "It's all worth it," Sam said. "I love to be there. It's great."
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Sommerfeldt's journey is deeply rooted in his lifelong fandom for the Badgers. His aunt and uncle were longtime season ticket holders, and he attended his first game in 2007, though he doesn't remember it. Gard, then an assistant under Bo Ryan, invited Marinette player Ben Kitkowski to a game his sophomore year; since Daren Sommerfeldt was his coach, the family was also invited, including Sam and his older brother, Jake.
Sam vividly recalls the 2015 national championship game in Indianapolis, where Wisconsin faced Duke. The Badgers led by nine in the second half but fell 68-63. Jake cried on the escalator ride afterward. "I've definitely been a Badgers fan my whole life," Sam said. "I guess going to the 2015 championship game was a crazy experience, for me and my family. Growing up, up until that point, we always had been watching them on TV or going to games."
Sam dreams of becoming a coach after graduating from Wisconsin, influenced by his father, a longtime basketball coach. Daren led Marinette to a 21-3 record and its first conference title in two decades in 2008. However, Daren credits Jake, who played at DIII Carroll University, with significantly shaping Sam's passion. "Like most sports families that have a favorite one, you spend so much time together involved in that sport, especially when one of the parents is a coach," Daren said. "I do believe that only goes so far, though. When you have two siblings so close in age that are extremely dedicated to the same sport, it takes it up another notch or 10."
Jake's experience at Carroll, in the highly competitive College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, showed Sam the college approach. "To be able to then look at the positive experience that his brother was having at that level and say, 'Hey, I don't care if it's serving a college basketball program as a student-athlete or as a manager at a Big Ten school, that's the next step and I want to be a part of that in some way.'"
For Sam, being part of the team he grew up cheering for is a dream come true. His family shares the excitement. "I think his 20 cousins think it's pretty cool that he has such a key role with the Badgers," Daren said. "His brother probably just wants to still beat him in one-on-one. As a parent, I haven't missed too many games that he's worked the first two years. Now that he is the head manager and works every single game, I'll be at every one home and away as a retired educator. It's going to be a special season for all of us."
Originally reported by yahoo.