By Richie Melby – MontanaSports.com
HELENA – Cassidy Hashley can still remember the exact moment she understood just how good her father, Doug, was on the basketball courts during his playing days.
The senior post at Carroll College drifts her mind back to junior high, when Doug was being honored at Montana State University.
“When he was inducted into the hall of fame, I think I was a seventh grader,” she said. “Growing up, people would stop him everywhere we went, so I knew he was pretty well-known. I knew he was a great basketball player, but definitely when I was a middle schooler and he was inducted, it was a very fun weekend with family and he was honored for what he did do there. It was that point where I was like, ‘Wow. He was a stud.’”
Cassidy’s younger brother, Jaxen, has also come to realize his father’s impact on the sport, particularly at Montana State. The Kalispell Glacier senior is fortunate to have Doug on the Wolfpack coaching staff where he continues to soak up his knowledge.
“Almost everything,” Jaxen said of what he’s learned from his father. “From a younger age he’s gone out there and taught me to be strong, have wide elbows and stuff like that he’s planted in my head and if I don’t do it, it feels weird. I have to give so much credit to him because I wouldn’t be where I am without him and all the coaches I’ve had throughout this.”
Jaxen and Cassidy are the youngest Hashleys in the family. Older sisters Holly and Emily played college volleyball at Carroll College and Montana Tech, respectively. But growing up, the younger siblings had their own rivalry, one that has slowed in recent years due to Jaxen’s growth spurt.
“That stopped a few years ago,” Doug laughed. “He’s been very good. He helps her and she helps him. I listen to them when I go out there and I would say about three years ago when he got fairly large, but he’s been very good to her, teaching her and she does the same for him. That part has been very good and their camaraderie is very good.”
The Hashley family has gathered enough trophies, medals and ribbons to fill most households. Cassidy left Glacier High as the career leader in scoring, rebounding and many other categories. This season she added 1,000-point scorer to her accolades at Carroll.
“Honestly, it wasn’t even in my mind until about a week before it happened. My dad had mentioned, ‘Oh, you’re getting close.’ It was never something I guess I was aiming for. It just kind of came along,” said Cassidy.
“It was awesome. I took the newspaper from here at the hotel and I was so jacked when I saw it in the paper because I watched it that night on TV,” said Jaxen, who was in town to face Helena High and Helena Capital that weekend. “I got that paper and it’s awesome. I’m jacked for her.”
Jaxen, meanwhile, leads the Wolfpack into the Class AA state tournament as the top seed from the Western AA. But it’s football where he will make his college living, following his father’s footsteps to Montana State.
“Every time walking into Brick Breeden Fieldhouse and seeing his picture on the wall, I want to be like him and be a Bobcat,” Jaxen said. “Being able to have that chance and opportunity is just amazing.”
“Obviously my dad had his reasons for Montana State, but if (Jaxen) truly wanted to go to the Griz we would have supported him and we would have been Grizzlies,” said Cassidy. “But it just so happened that he chose Montana State.”
Doug jokes about being old and not remembering his playing days. But it was his work ethic from Big Sandy to Bozeman that has been handed down to each of his children.
“The thing that we preach is mental toughness. It’s a grind, whatever you’re doing is a grind,” he said. “You have to be able to get through the grind, enjoy the grind and they do that very well. So did my other two daughters, they did the same thing. I believe they have brought it to every practice and every game, and I couldn’t be more proud of all four of them for doing that. That’s mental toughness and we talk about that.”
The Hashleys have pushed one another to be their best, but every now and again it’s fun and games for the talented family. When it comes to a simple game of P-I-G or H-O-R-S-E, Jaxen and Cassidy can agree, Doug likely takes top honors.
“He has a pretty killer half-court shot from the butt, so you can’t beat that,” laughed Jaxen. “I would have to say him.”
“My money is on my dad,” Cassidy added. “He’s in the gym almost every day with my brother. Plus, he’s a P.E. teacher and lives in the gym. We always joke that he can make a half-court shot from his butt, so maybe he can show us that again sometime soon.”
We’re all waiting, Doug.